
Oass._R£Lc»LZA 

Book ^4C^ 



ENTEETAINMENTS. 



COMPRISING 



<j: y 



SOfO 
DIRECTIONS FOR HOLIDAY MERRY-MAKINGS, 

NEW PROGRAMMES FOR AMATEUR PERFORMANCES, 

AND 

MANY NOVEL SUNDAY-SCHOOL EXERCISES. 



Collected and Edited by 

LIZZIE W. CHAMPNEY. 



"Experience tells us that it is times of gladness which especially need a 
sanctifying power, a presence of the Lord." — Trench. 



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18 1 



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Or- 



BOSTON: 
D. LOTHROP AND COMPANY, 

FBANKLIN ST., CORNER OF HAWLEY. 

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COPYRIGHT BY 

D. LOTHROP & CO. 
1879. 



DEDICA TED 

TO 

KATE O-A-IMIIEIROICsr. 



; Why should we weep that such is R«r lot, 
Beautiful, saioted, aad neyar forgot ? " 



CONTENTS 



PAGE. 

Introduction . . . . . . . . 9 

Missionary Concert.— Scenes in Mission Fields . 14 
The Evangel of the Morning Star. — An Alle- 
gory. L. S. Stillson 34 

Temperance^ Concert Exercise. Mrs. C. F. 

Wilder . . . .' . . . . -53 

Exercise for Christmas Day, or Eve . . 70 
" Children's Day " Service. — Lily Sunday . . 82 
Sunday Evening Exercise.— Death and Resurrec- 
tion. . . . . . . . . .90 

Flower Concert ' . . . . . . . 94 

May Day In Doors 99 

The Fairy Queen.— A May-Day Cantata. W. Eus- 

tis Barker 109 

(v.) 



vi. Contents. 

PAGE. 

Four Odes for Decoration Day. Kate Cameron. 119 
Mrs. June's Prospectus. — Recitation foi Spring Fes- 
tival 126 

Fourth of July Exercise . . . . .128 

Thanksgiving Exercise 136 

The Pilgrim's Progress. » _ -■ - . 142 

A Cure for Tramps. — Temperance Drama. Lizzie 

IV. Champney .155 

Sunday Evening Exercises. Fannie M. Steele. 

I. Courage In Doing Right . . . . . 169 
II. Love to God .185 

III. Love to Men 187 

IV. Love of God Shown in Nature . . .188 
V. Influence of Little Things . . . .190 

VI. Lessons from Flowers 199 

VII. Little Deeds of Kindness 200 

VIII. The Temple Service 203 

IX. Jesus Only 214 

X. The Gospel Armor 217 

XI. The New Jerusalem 225 

XII. The Delectable Mountains .... 229 

XIII. Three-minute Sermons for The Children . 237 

Beauty and The Beast.— A Play in Three Scenes. 

Susan Hale 267 

Living Pictures. — Fifteen Tableaux. Fannie M. 

Steele 290 

A Bird Concert . 299 



Contents. vii. 



PAGE. 



Another Bird Concert . . . . . .311 

A Portrait of A Fellow-Citizen . . .312 
Mother Goose Entertainment . . .314 

Songs of Seven . . ... . -335 

An Idyl 337 

Babes in The Wood 339 

Other Good Things ...... 343 

Accessories and Decorations . . . .345 



INTRODUCTION. 



The love for festivals, and especially for religious festivals, 
is so universal that we must regard it as one of the innate 
cravings of the human mind. 

The element of entertainment must enter even into religion, 
if it is to be dear to the popular heart. Entertainments at 
any rate, the multitude will have, it only remains for Chris- 
tians to decide whether they shall make this mighty power a 
Christian force, or leave all the merry and bright things of 
this life in the service of Satan. 

Festivals were very dear to the primitive church. An an- 
cient writer calls them : ^ 

" The title pages 
Of all past, present, and succeeding ages ; 

The inventories 

Of future blessedness ; 
The florilegia of celestial stories ; 
Spirits of joys; the relishes and closes 
Of angels music ; pearls dissolved ; roses 
Perfumed ; sugared honey-combs ; delights 

Never too highly prized — 
Who loves not you, doth but in vain profess 
That he loves God, or heaven or happiness,' 

" The children of this world are wiser in their generation 



io. Introduction. 

than the children of light." The great popularity of the 

Romish Church among the masses is owing in no small 

degree to its many festivals. Take for instance the holy- days 
sacred to Mary alone. 

" O, in May how we honored Our Lady, 

Her own month of flowers ! 
How happy we were with our garlands 

Through all the spring hours ; 
AD her shrines, in the church or the wayside, 
Were made into bowers. 

And in August — her glorious Assumption ; 

What feast was so bright ! 
What clusters of virginal lilies, 

So pure and so white. 
Why the incense could scarce overpower 

Their perfume that night. 

And through her dear feasts of October 

The roses bloomed still ; 
Our baskets were laden with flowers, 

Her vases to fill ! 
Oleanders, geraniums and myrtles 

We chose at our will. 

And we know when the Purification 

Her first feast comes round, 
The early spring flowers to greet it, 

Just opening are found ; 
And pure, white and spotless the snow drop 
Will pierce the dark ground. 

The Protestant Church is at length recognizing the aid of 
entertainment in the religious education of children. Sunday- 
school celebrations and Sunday-school concerts are becoming 
more common and are conducted in a more artistic manner 
than formerly. 

It is, however, often a most difficult matter for the Sunday- 
school worker to arrange a programme for an exhibition or 
concert which shall be neither silly nor tedious ; but, while 
presenting an attractive and effective entertainment, shall 
at the same time, inculcate some moral lesson. The labor of 



Introduction. 1 1 

drilling the performers, of interesting them in their parts, and 
superintending rehearsals is in itself sufficient; but, added 
to this, the manager generally has the task of originating the 
entire plan, and composing the material used. 

Sunday-school literature is very defective in this particular. 
Very few dialogues, etc., are issued by the publishing houses 
from which Sunday-school libraries are generally supplied. 
We know of no comprehensive collection for the various festi- 
vals of the Christian year ; and the various good things which 
are frequently dropping from the press have but an ephem- 
eral existence, and are seen but by comparatively few who 
might appreciate and use them. 

To relieve the already overworked class, the prime movers 
of entertainments (of which each Sunday-school has one or 
two,) of the task of originating, as well as executing, is the 
object of this work. We offer a collection of new entertain- 
ments, by persons of great experience in amateur theatricals, 
in musical matters, in Sunday-school entertainments of all 
description, and in literary work. The members of this com- 
mittee have been chosen from different denominations of the 
Christian religion ; the Episcopal, the Presbyterian, the Meth- 
odist, the Baptist, the Unitarian and the Congregational soci- 
eties being all represented, while their residences are widely 
scattered throughout the different cities of the Union. With 
their original contributions, prepared expressly for this work 
and not heretofore published, we have combined selections 
from other authors ; referring to them in skeleton programmes 
when they can easily be found, and quoting them at length 
where they exist in a form not readily available for practical 
use. The little dramas by Mrs. Abby Morton Diaz, the 
poems by Mrs. A. D. T. Whitney, and Mrs. Mary Mapes 
Dodge, and the ballads by Bishop Coxe, are reprinted with 
the kind permission of the authors and of their publishers 
Messrs. Houghton, Osgood & Co., and Mr. A. K. Loring of 
Boston, and Scribner & Co. of New York. 



12 Introduction. 

The exercises here presented are principally such as are 
suitable for Sabbath evenings. A number of secular enter- 
tainments have also been added for the aid of temperance, 
missionary and other societies, and with a view to the enliven- 
ment of church, fairs and social circles and the assistance of 
school exhibitions and holiday merry-makings. 

Feeling sure that their work will meet a felt want, and see- 
ing in prophetic panorama the long vista of delightful even- 
ings which it may inspire, the committee, 

Harriett G. Brittan, 
Susan Hale, 
Fanny M. Steele, 
S. K. Stillson, 
C. Frances Wilder, 
Lizzie W. Champney. 
extend their various offerings and their unanimous Happy 
New Year. 



ENTERTAINMENTS 



MISSIONARY CONCERT. 



PROGRAMME. 



SCENES IN MISSION FIELDS. 
"The Field is the World." 



i. India. — Scenes for Children. ----- Miss Brittan. 

2. Greece. — Tableau and Song. Ode to Apollo. - Milman. 

3. China. — Recitation. The Little Chinee. - - Geo. Cooper. 

4. France and Italy. — Dialogue ; in costume. 

* The Vaudois Teacher. - - Whittier. 

5. Africa. — Recitation. Song of Slaves in the Desert. Whittier. 

6. North American Indians. — Tableaux. 

Scenes from Hiawatha. Lotigfellwu. 

7. Persia or Turkey. — Tableau. 

Scene from Arabian Nights. 

8. Japan. — Tableau. A Japanese Feast. 

9. The Freedmen. — Recitations. At Port Royal. - Whittier. 

How Persimmons took care of 

de baby, or, Daddy Wafless. L.W.Champney. 



* All Recitations not given in this volume are to be found in the works of the 
authors named. 



MISSIONARY CONCERT FOR SUN- 
DAY SCHOOL CHILDREN. 

SCENES IN MISSION FIELDS. 

i — i 2>r id i j± . 

Let the superintendent, or one of the teachers who has a 
good voice, take the charge of the evening's eiitertainment, 
and after all things are arranged for the tableaux, let him 
step in front of the curtain, and make a short speech to the 
audience somewhat like this : 

Bear young friends : We are going to try this 
evening to make you understand somewhat of mis- 
sionary work — that is, what missionaries do. I 
suppose you all know that the meaning of mis- 
sionary, is, one sent. If there was a poor little 
sick girl who lived in the next street to you, and 
your mother were to send you to that child with a 
beautiful basket of fruit, and tell you to say to her 
that your dear mother was coming With a nice easy 
carriage to take her for a good long ride — you 
would be a little missionary to that poor child ; you 
15 



1 6 Entertainments. 

would be sent to - her with good tidings or news, 
something that would make her feel happier at 
once, as well as give - her more hopes of happiness 
to come afterwards. Well, missionaries, as we gen- 
erally call them, are those who go on messages of 
love, to those poor people who are terribly sick, 
with that most dreadful of all diseases, sin; and 
they carry with them something that will not only 
make the poor people happier at present, but they 
also take the Gospel or good news of more and 
greater happiness to come. They go to the poor 
heathen people who know nothing of the one great 
God, our loving Father God, and nothing of the 
dear Saviour, who loved us so much that He died 
to save us ; but they worship ugly images which 
their own hands have made, and they believe in 
the most silly and ridiculous stories, and they think 
that all these silly stories are as true as we know 
our Bible words to be. Now, this evening, we are 
going to let you see some of the foolish things that 
are believed in heathen countries, so that you may 
better understand how much need there is for us 
to send the Bible to them, if we would obey the 
command of Jesus to " do to others as we would 
have them do to us." 

We will give you a glimpse of Greece, China, 
France, Italy, Africa, Persia and Japan ; and we 
will also take you among our own North Ameri- 
can Indians, and among our freeclmen. 

But, first, I will tell you something about the 



Missionary Concert. 1 7 

poor people in India, and what they believe. They 
are all heathen, and as they know nothing of the 
true God, of course they know nothing of the 
beautiful heaven that he has prepared for all those 
who love him. But they believe that when a per- 
son dies his or her soul goes directly before the 
God Yuma, the judge of the dead. He directly 
opens a book in which is written down all the good 
and the bad deeds that man has ever done. Well, 
you know they believe that there are a great many 
different gods, and each god has a heaven or para- 
dise of his own. So when Yuma examines the 
books, if he finds that the man has done more good 
deeds than naughty or bad ones, the man goes 
directly to the paradise of the god that he has 
served most, or who loves him best, and he stays 
there very happy for a great number of years, and 
then comes back to this earth and is born again as 
some other little baby, in a better or richer position 
than he was before, and this he does many thou- 
sands of times, till at last when he has been very 
very good a great many times, he is taken to the 
highest heaven of all, where the greatest of all the 
gods lives, and then his soul becomes a little bit of 
the great god himself, and he never comes back to 
the world again. But, if when Yuma is judging 
the man, he finds from the books that the. man has 
done more naughty things than good, then the 
man's soul is sent to a dreadfully bad place where 
he is punished very much, and then he comes back 



1 8 Mntertainme?its. 

to the world again, yet not as a man, but as some 
animal ; well, if lie is good whilst he is an animal, 
when he dies he will come back to this world again 
as some better animal, or perhaps as a man again, so 
that he may again try to be better. Thns you see 
they believe that all animals — birds, beasts, fishes, 
insects, and reptiles have all at one time been men, 
women or children, and some day will be such again. 
Thus they think it is a dreadful sin to kill any ani- 
mal, even the smallest insect, like an ant or a fly or 
a mosquito ; it is almost as great a sin to kill a fly they 
think, even by accident, as it would be to kill a man, 
and if they do kill an animal it is written down in the 
book against them as a great sin. While they 
think it is a very good deed to feed a beggar, and 
as all animals are very glad when anybody gives 
them food, they say that to feed an animal is as 
good a deed as to feed a beggar, and so every time 
they feed an animal it is written down in the book 
as a good deed for them. Now, I will show you 
one way that they have of getting, as the children 
at school would say, a great many good marks. 

Scene ist. The curtain should now rise and show 
two full grown girls in the Hindoo costume in their own 
country. It consists of nothing but a sauee wound around 
the body, with bare feet; but as this cannot be done here, 
we must try to imitate it as nearly as possible. The young 
ladies should wear no shoes, but flesh-colored stockings, and 
to prevent taking cold let them have cork soles inside the 
stockings. Then they should wear all their under clothing, 



Missionary Concert. 19 

but loose enough not to impede any graceful actio7i or mo- 
tion. . Over the under clothing should be placed the sauee, 
put on first round the waist, the width way of the cloth, 
reaching from the waist to the ankles ; this is wound twice 
round the body and then brought up over the neck, shoul- 
ders and head as seen in photographs. The sauce should 
be from six to seven yards in le?igth, and from a yard to 
five feet in width, according to the height of the wearer, 
the width going from the waist to the ankle. 17ie sauee 
may be composed of any kind of cotton cloth, but white 
muslin, or Turkey red with a bright colored border all . 
round it, is the prettiest and best; only where several are 
needed, it is best to have a variety. Each of the young 
ladies also should wear a quantity of mock jeivelry, 
chains, necklaces, mock pearl beads, bracelets, armlets, etc. ; 
these may be simulated by broad bands of gilt paper round 
the arms, with silver bangles on the ankles. Before the 
dialogue begins, the superintendent, or whoever has charge 
of the exercises, should inform the audience that as they 
do not understand Bengalee, he has requested these Ben- 
gal ladies to speak in English. 

As the curtain rises the two women should be dis- 
covered with a little girl about five or six years of age, 
dressed in the same way. One woma?i should be seen 
seated crass-legged 011 the ground with the little girl seated 
on her lap. The other should be standing up, but stooping 
over, holding in her left hand a large leaf in which is 
about a teaspoonful of granulated sugar. With her right 
hand she takes up a few grains, and going to different 
portions of the room, she drops them down in the corners 
on the floor. The woman that is seated then addresses 
her : 



20 Entertainments. 

"What are you doing, Benoth?" 

Benoth. " Oh ! Mohenee, yesterday I met with 
a terrible misfortune. I was very tired, and I was 
stretching and yawning, and while my mouth was 
open a mosquito flew into my mouth. I com- 
menced to cough to get it out but I could not, and 
I swallowed it and thus of course killed it ; and, oh, 
that great sin will be written down in the book 
against me ! " 

Mohenee. " But what are you doing now? " 

Benoth. " Well, you know that will be a dreadful 
big black mark against me, and so I am trying to 
do, something now by which I may get a great 
many little good marks." 

Mohenee. " But what is it you are doing, pray 
do tell me?" 

Benoth. " Why, you know for every beggar we 
feed we get a good mark, and to feed an animal is the 
same as to feed a beggar. But I am very poor ; and 
a horse, or a dog, or a cat — it takes a big bit of food 
to give them a dinner ; but one grain of sugar is 
sufficient to give a dinner to an ant, so that from 
this one spoonful of sugar I can feed hundreds 
of ants, and so get hundreds of little good marks 
to set against that one great big black mark." 

Mohenee (jumping up ivith her little girl). " Oh, 
Benoth, what a splendid thought ! why we can get 
a lot of good marks very cheaply then. Come, 
Golap, (to her little daughter,) we will go and 
get some sugar to feed some ants too, for I dare 



Missionary Concert. 21 

say, by accident we may have killed some insects 
also. Come along." 

{Moves across the stage with her little, daughter. Cur- 
tain/alls.) 

Scene 2d. Represents the heathen mother's hopeless- 
ness on the death of her i ^ild. The curtain rises, reveal-., 
ing a common wooden box, {for the Zenana ladies have 
no furniture in their rooms,) a Zenana lady clothed 
the same as before — as these women marry so young, 
she might easily be represented by a young girl of fourteen 
or fifteen — a little girl of six or seven, and a young lady 
to represent the missionary lady, who should be dressed in 
white, with a large straw hat. She should hold in her 
hand the picture of the sacrifice of Cain and Abel which 
she has just bee?i explaining, showing them how the sacri- 
fice of Abel typified the Lamb of God slain for us. The 
little girl is kneeling in front of the lady, her arms resting 
on the lady's lap, her eyes fixed intently on the lady's face, 
and the lady is teaching her the verse, "But Jesus said, 
suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me ; 
for of such is the kingdom of heaven." After repeating it 
two or three times, the little girl addresses the lady : 

"Maam Sahib, I do love that Jesus who yon 
say died, that we might go to heaven. What can 
I do to show him that I love him ? " 

Lady. " Do yon love him, Golap ? ( G-olap means 
Rose.) If you love him you must try and obey 
him. He says if we love him we must keep his 
commands." 



22 Entertainments. 

Grolap. " But what does he want nie to do ? I 
do not know ; tell me, that I may obey him, and 
show him that I love him." 

Lady. " Well, dear, he tells us we must never 
steal, we must never tell lies, we must be kind and 
loving to each other, and little children must obey 
.their parents. Then you must believe in Jesus 
and pray to him to make you good, and you must 
not worship those ugly idols which are only made 
of clay, and cannot see you or hear you if you pray, 
but you must pray to the one great God in heaven 
to take care of you and make you good for Jesus 
Christ's sake." 

G-olap. " Oh, I do not worship those Takors, for 
they are only made of clay I know, and if I let one 
•fall it will break to pieces directly, and then it can 
not punish me for doing it, but I will pray to that 
good Jesus who lives up above those beautiful stars, 
and then perhaps when I die he will take me 
to live .in that beautiful place in heaven with 
him." 

Lady. " He will dear if you will only love and 
serve him." 
{Curtain falls?) 

Scene 3d. Curtain rises, disclosing the same Zenana 
lady sitting on the groimd, rocki7ig herself backward and 
forward, and moaning and weepi7ig and wringing her 
hands in greatest distress. Her sauce or cloth not only 
drawn up over her head, but falling down so as to cover 



Missionary Concert. 23 

her face. 27ie missionary lady is coming in. She goes up to 
the woman and putting her hand on her shoulder she says: 

"Why, Bo ! Bo ! Bo ! (the title by which a young 
married woman is always addressed,) what is the 
matter?" 

. Bo. " Oh ! don't you know, have you not heard 
that my Golap is gone, lost to me forever ! " 

Lady. " Gone, why, where has she gone ? " 

Bo. (Speaking through her sobs.*) " Oh, that 
terrible black mother, horrid Kali (Kali or Kalee 
as it is pronounced) the goddess of Begenne, has 
always hated me, and does hate me, and now she 
has sent the goddess Dussura (Cholera personified) 
to take away my treasure, my only love, my darl- 
ing Golap — she is gone, gone from me forever ! 
I shall never, never, see her more ; oh, that horrid 
wicked Kalee." 

Lady. " When did Golap die ? " 

Bo. " Two days ago. Oh that dreadful black 
mother, to hate me so much as to take my only 
child from me." 

Lady. "It was not Kalee, it was Jesus took 
your little one; he loved her so much and he 
wanted her to live with him in heaven, and so he 
has taken her there where she will have no more 
pain, or sin, or sorrow, or sickness, or death, and if 
you will only love Jesus you too can go to live with 
him in heaven." 



24 Entertainments. 

Bo. " Oh no ! no ! I wish I could believe it, but 
I cannot. It is Kalee hates me." 

(Lady starts on seeing a large black spider or cockroach 
coming towards her on the floor. These poor Hindoos 
thijik that because a child 'has not done either much good 
or much evil, when it dies, it immediately becomes some 
insect which lives only a short time ; and then when the 
insect dies it immediately comes to earth again as some 
other little child, therefore they will never kill an insect, as 
in doing so, they might be killing a child. A large toy 
spider or beetle might be obtained, and placed on the ground, 
where the audience could see it. The lady, knowing that 
Bo would not kill it, and d?'eading the insect comifig upon 
her, points to it, and says : 

" Won't you put that out of the window ? " 

Bo. " Put that out of window, send that away ? 
Oh, no ! not for the world, that is my only comfort ; 
it came here the day my little girl died, and I gave 
it some rice and it has remained here ever since, 
and I know it is my little girl, for it likes to stay 
near me." 

Lady. " Oh, no, dear Bo , your little one is in 
heaven with the angels round God's throne singing 
his praises, she will never have any trouble or 
sorrow again, she will never come to this earth 
again, but be forever happy with God in heaven." 

Bo (moaning and wringing her hands). " Oh, I 
wish I could believe it ; I wish I could believe it ; 
oh, if I could only think I might ever see my little 



Missionary Concert. 25 

darling once more ; but I can't believe it, it is too 
good to be true ; the only comfort I have is in 
thinking this insect is my darling, and that she 
likes to be near me." 

Curtain falls. 

II — GBEECE. 

Tableau. — Stage arranged to simulate a grove. At the 
centre and back a large plaster bust, or full-length figure 
of the Apollo Belvidere, placed upo?i a wooden pedestal. 
Infrojit, two young girls dressed i?i the costume of ancient 
Greece, as described by the late President Felton of Har- 
vard University. The girls have bare arms, wearing 
first the chiton or sleeveless vest, which may be made of 
two pieces of square cloth fastened at the shoulders by 
brooches, and belted at the waist. Second, a scant skirt 
made to clear the ground. Third, a sheet may be caught 
in the belt behind, draped around the limbs, brought again 
to the back, and over one shoulder, a loaded corner hanging 
in front. One of the girls, a brunette, should wear a 
chiton of buff or fawn-colored cashmere, and the sheet 
should have a broad border of maroon color. The other, 
a blonde, should wear a light blue chiton, and the sheet 
which composes the outer garment may be thickly spotted 
with small stars cut fi'om silver paper. Both wear 
imitation sandals over their stockings. The hair may be 
arranged in a loose knot at the back- of the head, a la Diana, 
with a sling-shaped fillet in front, or may be modelled 
after any classical statue. One holds a laurel wreath, 
the other a branch of laurel. They sing or repeat alter- 
nately the following selection from Millman : 



26 Entertainments. 

ODE TO APOLLO. 

Lord of the speaking lyre ! 

That with a touch of fire 
Strik'st music which delays the charmed spheres, 

And with a soft control 

Dost steal away the soul, 
And draw from melting eyes delicious tears. 

Lord of the unerring bow, 

Whose fateful arrows go 
Like shafts of lightning from the quivering string, 

Pierced through each scaly fold, 

Enormous Python rolled, 
While thou triumphant to the sky didst spring. 

And scorn and beauteous ire 

Steep'd with ennobling fire 
Thy quivering lip and all thy beardless face, 

Loose flew thy clustering hair. 

While thou the trackless air 
Didst walk in all thine own celestial grace. 

Lord of the gorgeous shrine, 

Where to thy form divine 
The snow-white line of lessening pillars leads 

And all the frontispiece 

And every sculptured frieze, 
Is rich and breathing with thy god-like deeds. 

Phcebus Apollo, hear ! 

Great Lycian king, appear, 
Come from the Cynthian steep or Xanthus shore, 

Here to thy Grecian home 

In visible Godhead come, 
And o'er our land thy choicest influence pour. 



Missionary Concert. 27 

III — CHIFA. 

Recitation. — By a very small boy. Costume, a long, 
loose blouse-apron of yellow calico, with baggy, flowing 
sleeves, over ordinary suit, a hat shaped like an inverted 
work-basket, braided jute pig-tail fastened within. Jf a 
Chinese umbrella can be obtained at a curiosity store, let 
him hold it behind him, also an armful of cheap Japanese 
fans and pictures which {having finished his recitation and 
descended from the platform) he can peddle among the audi- 
ence, thus adding to the proceeds of the evening. The reci- 
tation may be" The Little Chinee" published in the Inde- 
pendent. 

THE LITTLE CHINEE. 

"Who was it came*to town one day, 
In such a meek and pensive way, 

But this strange^ wee Celestial ? 
His precious queue hung down behind : 
Their Ps and Qs they have to mind 

That side the globe terrestrial. 

"How funny ! " cried the children there, 
" He must have dropped out of the air." 

His almond eyes peeped slyly. 
" Me washee, cookee," this he said, 
" Me sclubbee flooree, makee bed. 

All samee, A one stylee." 

He knocked at doors, his errand told, 
Then quietly his hands he'd fold — 

No attitude was finer. 
The folks all said : " My ! You're too small," 
They knew the dishes he'd let fall, 

He spoke such broken China. 



28 Entertainments. 

He only smiled and trudged along, 
And then he sang this classic song — 

No bird could sing so gayly. 
'Twas " Ching chow hi,'' and " Chop chi bo, 
" Me walkee, pickee my way, oh ! 

From China-town, by lailee." 

He joined the children at their game. 
They thought he didn't know the same — 

His smile was tantalizing. 
At marbles, tag, and bat, and ball, 
That day he took the prize from all 

In manner most surprising. 

Now, when the sun was going down, 
They followed him beyond the town — 

His pig-tail hung behind him — 
And still he wore that pensive smile ; 
But when he'd gone about a mile 

He vanished. None could find him. 

Within a very deep, dark hole, 
Beside a giant oak-tree's bole, 

They gazed, with wondering optics ; 
But he had gone, as each one sees, 
Straight down to the Antipodes, 

To ply his little chop-sticks. 

Oh ! here it was, beyond a doubt, 
He'd dug his way right up and out, 

This mild, though artful laddie ! 
The children call — heard this reply ; 
" Me top-side up for home. Good-bye ! 
' The heathen Chinee' — hi ! hi ! hi ! 
Me his son! Him my daddy ! " 



Missionary Concert. 29 

IV — IF IR, -A. IT C IE -A.2ST3D TTJ^XjT. 

Dialogue. — In Costume. Characters, Lady, Page and 
Vandois Colporteur. The time is the second third of the 
sixteenth century, the reign of Francis I, of France, and 
the scene is laid in ?iorthern Italy or France. The costume 
of this period offers the richest choice of age for artistic 
effect. Background a room in the style of the Renaissance. 
The lady should be dressed in rich brocade, with double 
sleeves, the imier, tightly fitting with ruffs of deeply pointed 
lace at the wrists, the outer "angel" or flowing sleeves, 
open to the shoulder, where there is a small puff. The 
waist is cut long and pointed; a large ruff completely hides 
the throat, a gold chain with large pendant, {a small cruci- 
fix), hangs over the shoulder. The hair is dressed high, 
and adorned with an aigrette and strings of pearls. A 
" rivierre" of jewels runs down the front of the dress. 
The page wears a velvet doublet slashed in the sleeves to 
show the linen beneath, and embroidered with dead gold. 
Long, closely-fitting, purplish gray stockings reaching from 
hip to heel. Next, the short trunk-hose shall show the foot 
and knee. A short velvet cape, and a cap adorned with a 
long white ostrich feather held in the hand. The colporteur 
should be dressed entirely in black; doublet, trunk-hose, 
stockings, short cloak thrown over one shoulder, and a 
small black cap, made by cutting a circle of cloth twenty 
inches across, gathering the edge and sewing it on a band, 
say twenty-two inches long, which fits tightly to the head, 
while the cap itself puffs out loosely above it. The col- 
porteur should kneel, exhibiting his wares, lace and gay 
silks, in one hand. The poem fits readily into dialogue 
form. At the proper place he presents the lady with a 
Testament. The Munchaer Bilder Buchen give sheets of 



30 Entertainments. 

costumes for the period {second third of sixteenth century), 
which are very cheap, and will did those fortunate enough 
to obtain them, in arranging the dresses for this scene. 

V — AFRI CA. 

Recitation. — Song of Slaves in the Desert. Whittier. 

VI — UOETH -A-ZMHEZE^IC-A-HSr X1<T3DTJ±1<TS. 
[Scenes from Hiawatha. — The Arrow Maker's Daughter.] 

Tableau I. Background, a wigwam made of blan- 
kets wrapped around a frame. In front sits the arrow- 
maker with his arrows. He is wrapped in a blanket. 
Hiawatha, in Indian war-dress of buckskin, ornamented 
with feathers, stands at the left. He leans upon his bow, 
and gazes with admiration at Minnehaha, who stands just 
within the wigwam, lifting the curtain. The reader reads 
from Longfellow f s Hiawatha, Part IV, beginning with the 
lines : 

" Only once his pace he slackened, 
Paused to purchase heads of arrows 
Of the ancient arrow maker," 
and reading to the end of Part IV. 

[Hiawatha and Nokomis,] 

Tableau II. Scene, interior of an Indian lodge. No- 
komis with gay shawl and handkerchief tied over her head, 
stands at the door barring Hiawatha 's passage out with 
one arm, the other is lifted wamingly. Hiawatha, stands 
in the centre, with folded arms. See the poem, Part X. If 
the characters can recite in dialogue from the beginning of 
the part through the line, 

"Be thou the sunlight of my people," 
the effect will be better than to have it simply read. 



Missionary Concert. 31 

Tableau III. Same as tableau I. Hiawatha, lays 
game at the feet of Minnehaha, and the following selections 
are recited: 

Arrow Maker. " Hiawatha you are welcome, 

Minnehaha. " You are welcome Hiawatha, 

Hiawatha. " That our peace may last forever. 

And our hands be clasped more closely, 
And our hearts be more united, 
Give me as my wife this maiden, 
Minnehaha, Laughing Water, 
Lovliest of Dacotah women ! 

Arrow Maker. " Yes, if Minnehaha wishes ; 

Let your heart speak, Minnehaha ! ' 

Minnehaha. " I will follow you, my husband ! 

{Hiawatha leads Minnehaha away.) 

Arrow Maker. " Fare thee well, O Minnehaha ! 

Thus it is our daughters leave us, 
Those we love, and those who love us ! 
Just when they have learned to help us, 
When we are old and lean upon them, 
Comes a youth with flaunting feathers, 
Beckons to the fairest maiden, 
And she follows where he leads her, 
Leaving all things for the stranger." 

Tableau IV. {Not from Hiawatha?) Five children 
dressed in Indian costume, may stand in a row, each number 
representing a child thus, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. 

Nos. 1 and 2 recite very distinctly — "The Choctaw and 

the Cherokee, 
Nos. 2 and 4 — " The Kickapoo and Kaw, 
No. 3 — " Likewise the Pottawattomie. 
All — " Oh teach us all the law." 



( 



32 



Entertainments. 



"VII — PERSIA OE- TTJE-KETT. 

Tableau. — {From the Arabian JVights.) Scheherezade 
amusing the Sultan and her sister Dinazade with stories 
and songs. Positions. The Sultan seated cross-legged on a 
divan smoking a nargile. Scheherezade is seated on the floor 
at the right ; Dinazade, stands at the left, one hand resting 
on her hip, holding a tambourine, the other arm curved 
gracefully over her head, as though dancing. {Costumes, 
dolls dressed in Turkish costume, after models brought 
from Turkey by returned missionaries, will be sent by the 
editor on reecipt of two dollars a piece, to any address). 
Durifig the exhibitiofi of the tableau, the following poem by 
Lord Houghton, may be read or recited-. 

THE HAREM. 

[From Longfellow's Poems of Places— Asia.] 

Behind the veil, where depth is traced, 

By many a complicated line, — 
Behind the lattice closely laced 
With filigree of choice design, 
Behind the lofty garden wall, 
Where stranger face can ne'er surprise, 
That inner world her all-in-all 
The Eastern woman lives and dies. 

If young and beautiful, she dwells 

An Idol in a secret shrine, 
Where one high-priest alone dispels 

The solitude of charms divine ; 

Within the gay kirk reclined, 

Above the scent of lemon groves, 
Where bubbling fountains kiss the wind, 
And birds make music to their loves, 



Missionary Concert. 33 

She lives a kind of fairy life, 
In sisterhood of fruits and flowers, 
Unc-ohscious of the outer strife 
That wear the palpitating hours. 

VIII. CT .A. ?E> .A. IST . -A. FEAST. 

Tableau.- — Suggested by a gentleman for several years 
a resident of Japan. A large tray is placed upon blocks in 
the middle of the stage so as to be raised a little distance 
from the floor. Place on the tray, tiny Japanese tea-cups, 
and other bits of oriental porcelain. The ladies and gentle 
man are placed opposite each other sitting on their feet, which 
are turned under them, as in kneeling,but are not crossed as in 
Turkish style. The costume is a dressing gown confined at the 
waist by a girdle. This robe is loose and full for the ladies, 
rather scant for the gentleman. The numerous fans and pic- 
tures to be found at any curiosity shop, will give an idea as to 
fabric, pattern, and color. Back of the table place a little 
girl (the waitress,) bending over the company and holding 
a small tray, on which are tea-cups, a plate of cakes, and a 
little basket of oranges. As background, use a large Jap- 
anese screen. Large decorated vases containing growing 
plants may be placed on either side of the table. 

Recitations.— At Port Royal. Whiitier. 

How Persimmons took care ofde Baby ; 
or, Daddy Wafless. L. W. Champney. 

The programme should be varied by interspersing mission- 
ary hymns, sung by a choir or congregation . The hall should 
be decorated with the mottoes, " The field is the world," in 
illuminated letters over the platform, while on either side, 
between the windows are the words, Greece, China, India, etc. 



1 Evangel of the 



An Allegory for a Missionary Concert. 



ZB-5T Xi. S. STILSOIT 

CHARACTERS. 



Ashteroth, Princess of the Powers 
of Darkness. 



Superstition, 

Folly, 

Sloth, 



Her Attendants. 



Spirit of Wisdom. 
Christian Love, 
Faith, __ 
Hope, . V 
Charity, \\ 
Truth^ *> 
Kindness, 
Zeal, 



• 



Christian 
Graces. 



Daughter of the \ 
« « c"f™' I Converts from 

" Eas™' \^ ath en lands. 
" « West, J 



EvANGELA, 

Muriel, 
Theresa, 



(tall of sta- 
ture.) 

CORINNE, 

Lois, 

Una, (short of stature). 

Frank, Claire, and 
other little boys and 
girls from infant 
classes. 



Children of the 
Church. 



COSTUMES FOR ACTORS IN ALLEGORY. 

Ashteroth, should be represented by a tall, black-eyed 
and black-haired lady. Her dress, black, with floating 
gauze draperies of black and red. On the head a black 
and red (or else steel) crescent, horns curved upward ; jet 
pendants from one side. Hair combed straight back, orna- 
mented with arrows or spears. This is a striking char- 
acter and costume. 

Folly, has a merry face; wears a dress of many 
colors, with tiny bells attached. 

Superstition, is dressed in black, with peasant ker- 
chief tied around head, and black half-mask dow?i almost 
over the eyes, to tipify blindness. 

Sloth, grey or brown. 

Love, wears white, with gauze draperies edged with 
rose ; flowers at the throat and in the hair. The other 
Graces, (girls short of stature), wear white dresses, rather 
short, each relieved with a little color. Each should wear 
a little shield, bearing her name, suspended- over her left 
shoulder ; hair floating in waves. 

Wisdom, would best be a tall blonde, in contrast to Ash- 
teroth. She is dressed all in white, with white gauze dta- 
35 



36 Entertainments. 

peries, dotted with silver stars; a long white veil, and 
a silver star, or silver arched bandeau above the forehead. 

Evangela, is dressed in blue, relieved with white. The 
other Children of the Church in ordinary dress — greys and 
browns preferred — to bring the others into ?'elief by 
contrast. 

The foreign costumes can be best obtained from pictures, 
and of returned missionaries. Description is inadequate. 

PROLOGUE. 

An angel from his crown a jewel missed, 

Ambition sought it on the heights of fame, 

Knowledge from ancient caskets strove to wrest 

The treasure all would claim. 

Then Christian Love stooped to earth's lowly ways, 

To stagnant pools that mertal foot would shun, 

Unsoiled her robes, baptized in heaven's white rays 

The gem from dust she won. 

O children of the light ! we'll gain no prize 

From wealth of knowledge, or from missal hymn, 

But 'mid the lowly, won through sacrifice, 

Will gleam the pure soul gem, 

Which Christ will set upon His diadem. 

SCENE I. 

[Enter Ashteroth alone.] 

Ash. Alone ! where hide themselves my night-sprung 
peers, 
Terror and Desolation, Ruin, Death ? 
Once we had force and held the world in thrall, 
I touched a victim — Reason left her house. 
I spoke — Good vanished from my sight. 



The Evangel of the Morning Star. 37 

I hurled my arrows — Virtue fled away ! 

Why wanes the strength of evil now ? The powers 

Of good are gaining on us age by age — 

It shall not be ! Awake ye Powers of Night ! 

Rise ! Shake the earth with vengeance once again ! 

{Enter Superstition, Folly and Sloth.] 
Ill met to-day, my laggard followers — 
Sloth, Folly, Superstition, ye 're remiss 
In action, and not valiant as of old. 
Hear you : the churches are awakening 
To found new missions in the heathen lands ; 
Where idled ye, not to upset their schemes ? 

FOLLY. I pray thee, blame not me ! I never rest ; 

I go from church to church beguiling youth, 
Tempting them e'er with vanities anew, 
Wild revelries, new fashions, proud display — 

Super. Nor me, great Power, I tell them fortune tales ; 
With signs and omens, I hinder mission work, 
By going to heathen lands and holding men 
In heavy chains unable to arise, 
And covering with black pall of ignorance, 
• Which gospel light can never pierce. ..Behold ! 

A light screen is suddenly drawn reveafaig a tableau. 
Eour characters in heathen costume — subsequently presented 
in Scene II — are seated on the floor, each heavily chained, 
black tarlatan thrown over all. 

ASH. 'Tis well. In heathen lands I ask no more ; 

What dost thou, Superstition, in churches here ? 

Super. Here too, O Power of Night, I delude men, 

By making them worship creeds, regarding more 

The letter of the law than spirit, more 

The rites of church than helping human souls. 

ASH. Good ! naught so sure to extinguish Christian zeal — 



38 Entertainments. 

In this thou rightly judgest Sloth hast thou 

Been idle like thy name ? 

Sloth. \Rising languidly^ Nay, Queen of Darkness, 
I've shown the church the bliss of idleness, 
Preventing it from doing anything good, 
Inventing many excuse to ease the conscience. 
When asked for help in foreign mission work, 
This frail excuse thou surely will commend — 
Oh no, 'tis always best at first to attend 
To heathen at home." This artifice never fails ; 
For such ne'er get beyond one heathen at home. 
Most men who will not care for souls abroad 
Care not for neighbor ; so we there are safe. 
In other duties, work for Sunday-schools, 
Or church, or the poor, I frame excuses fair 
For doing nothing, which is doing ill ; 
Since easy 'tis for Folly then to come 
And fill the void with vanities. 

Ash. 'Tis true; 

But more assiduous be ; we Powers of Darkness 
Must wiser be than children of the light. 
To gain the people 'tis the surest way 
To win the infants first. Lo, here appear 
A happy band of Children of the Church. 
Be wary now, deride not Christian creeds, 
Their Bible-texts and pious hymns ; pretend 
All to accept, and thus more surely win, 
Throwing in at intervals some bone of strife. 
Aside ! Affrighting them, we thwart our aim. 

Enter, talking together, two Children of the Church — 
Theresa and Lois. The Powers of Darkness stand 
aside. 

Ther. What if it rain on anniversary ? 

Lois. Heaven always smiles upon the children's day. 



The Evangel of the Morning Star. 39 

{Enter Evangela at one door!] 

Evan. Sisters let us be mindful of the poor, • 

To take them fruits and cake on the festal day. 

[Enter Corinne, Muriel and Una at the other door!] 

Ther. Yes, well you thought of that, Evangela. 

[Superstition steps forward."] 

Super. Sweet maiden, may I now your fortune tell ? 
Lois. Oh, thank you, yes, I'd be delighted, quite. 

[Lois presents her palm to Superstition, who proceeds 
to examine!] 

SLOTH. {Speaks- languidly ?{ 

Good children do not so distress yourselves : 
The Bible does command, " Eat, drink, be merry," 
Ye cannot if ye' re constantly distressed 
For other's woes. Ye're not your brother's keeper 
If God had meant they should be blest, He would 
Provide a way. Take rest and ease in youth. 

Super. [Still holding Lois' hand.\ 

You have a pleasant fortune, pretty maid, 
You'll marry rich, live long and happy life ; 
But now beware — 'tis written in this palm, 
And 'tis an ancient omen, if you give 
Fruit to the poor, you'll hungry be yourself. 

Lois, What ! is that true ? We must consider then. 

[Another girl holds out palm for her fortune!] 

FOLLY. Friends, rich attire is needful on that day. 

You should devote your money to fine clothes, 
Not waste it on the poor, yourselves mean clad. 

Una. Yes, true, my dresses are too old and plain. 

Corin. And I too need a far more stylish robe. 



40 Entertainments. 

Ash. {Aside to attendants.'] 

Too well agreed. We must some strife awake. 

[To the girls .] 

You'll pardon me, but my great interest 

In your good looking class leads me to ask 

Who bears the banner when you march that day ? 

Which is the honored one of all your class ? 
THER. {Rising to full height^] 

Of course the tallest should the banner bear. 
Una. [Bezng shortest.] 

No, then the effect were awkward in extreme, 

The shortest by all means — 'twere graceful then. 
Lois. What matters height ? . She who the banner holds 

Should be the girl most stylish. I'll — not — say 

Who that maybe — of course. 
MURIEL. Just listen ! Style 

Our basis of respect ! 
Ash. If you'll permit 

That I decide the question, I will gild 

Your banner, handsomest of all the schools. 

[They nod their heads in assent. ~] 

Let her who is the meekest bear it ! [Pause.] 
[Aside to her Attendants^ There ! 

I've hurled an apple of discord in their midst ! 

Now follows a grotesque pantomime, two minutes long; 
all the six moving around with drooping faces, trying to 
appear " meek ; " Evangela alone natural. 

Evan. I think that Muriel is the meekest one. 
[All the rest.] Indeed she's not ! 

MUR. [With affectedly "meek" accent i] 

My teacher speaks of one 

Who's always meek and gentle. 'Tis not meet 

That I should mention who. 



The Evangel of the Morning Star. 41 

Corin. [Scornfully.'] Of course 'tis not, 

But no one else e'er thought of you as meek. 

MUR. [Indignant.] 

Indeed ! my friends have always called me meek, 
And if not I, no one of you, that's sure. 

Una. I'm more meek than you, fifty per cent ! 

Grinning pantomime of satisfaction among the Powers 
of Darkness. They move around with grotesque gestures of 
strong delight. 

Corin. Still more am I. If I can't the banner bear, 
I leave the class. 

MUR. If I cannot, I leave. 

Evan. [Sadly, pleadingly.] 

O sisters, sisters ! this is sad indeed, 

When such a peaceful class we've always been. 

'Twere better have no banner than such strife. 

Come let us leave it to a higher power, 

Let us look upward in our time of grief. 

[Steps to front, clasps hands, and looks upward.] 
INVOCATION. 

Spirit of Wisdom, O Purest and Best, 

Come to earth's children with troubles oppressed. 

Torn by dissensions the heart suffers pain, 

Bring to us union and comfort again. 

Again to the music of peace let us move, 

Come, lighten our darkness, O Spirit of Love ! 

Tableau. — Evangela still looking upward in same at- 
titude ; other characters facing in various directions. Dur- 
ing tableau, distant music — the Angel Song, as given 
below — growing nearer and nearer, the last two lines 
sung at door of stage as Graces enter. 



42 E?itertainments. 

ANGEL SONG. 

i 

Come to those we've watched o'er long 
Come to the tempest-shaken heart ; 
Sorrows at our beck depart:, 
Touched with music anger dies, 
Discord melts in symphonies, 
When we come — the angel throng — 
Singing Love's celestial song. 

Enter two by two, six Graces. First Faith and Hope, 
etc., each with her name on small shield, on shoulder 
and a long green branch in her hand. 

First two Grages. Where can Christian graces bide ? 

Second two Graces. Where no unseen hosts divide ? 

Third two Graces. Through sin's mystic mazes wide. 

All Graces. Love alone can be our guide. 

Evan. {Bowing low.) 

O welcome, Graces ! May you bide with us. 
The spirit wisdom comes she too ? 

First two Graces. Not so ; 

This message she sends ; that your discordant hearts 
Are fitted not to receive her presence pure, 
But Christian Love she sends, the chief of all 
Our band of graces. She will speak to you. 

The Graces part a little, cross their wands of boughs 
above, thus forming double line, and a green arcade under 
which enters Christian Love. She speaks : 

Through listening ether sped your bitter cry, 
And I am sent on mission of harmony. 
Alas that unto hearts so young should come 
Ambition ! It is selfishness supreme 
Which driveth out intent of noble deed. 



The Evangel of the Morning Star. 



43 



Ash. 



I will decide your question of dissent, 

If first a moment I may pause to rest 

From my long journey. {She seats herself?) 

We'll have no influence now ; They'll soon to work. 

With idle hands alone we'll find success. 

But we'll return if but to harrass them. 

[Exeunt Powers of Darkness!] 



Love. 



I 



Care you to listen while I briefly give 
The story of my journeys ? 

Evan, and Muriel. Glad we'll hear. 

Love. I've been to tropic lands where summer reigns, 
The very breeze laden with music sweet — 
The hoopoos' pipings 'mid the banyan groves 
Mirrored upon the Jumna's placid stream ; 
And lulling tinklings of pagoda bells 
Float seaward from the isles of Arracan. 
Alas where nature seems like Paradise 
That man should dwell in darkness ! Girls like you 
Are shut in prison walls, and bound in chains. 

CORIN. In chains good Spirir? girls as young as we ? 

Love. Yes, heavier chains than those your eyes e'er saw 
Binds them to earth. They cannot lift their eyes 
To see the light of God, for o'er their heads 
Is spread a heavy pall their eyes ne'er pierce. 
The chains were forged by Superstition's power, 
The name of that thick pall is ignorance. 
Ah, can it be, I said, in Christian homes 
fen thousand happy children walk in light, 
Rich in possessing churches, schools, and books, 
Yet have no care for those who perish here ? 

MUR. Poor suffering' ones ! 

UNA. Oh tell us, Spirit pure, 

Who can be sent to free them ? 



44 Entertainments. 

Ther. Is there help 

That one of us can give ? 

Louis. 'Twere gladly given. 

Love. You have not time this year ; your great concern 
At present is, " Who shall the banner bear ? " 
Of prime importance that we now decide 
" Who shall be chief among us ? " The Blessed taught 
Who would be greatest, let him minister. 
List then whom I appoint ; the standard bearer 
Shall be that one Who has done the most for God ... 
...Will she step forward ? 

\TJiey drop their heads silently?^ 

... What ! will no one claim 

The honor ?... Una thou?...Thou Muriel? 
Una. Not I. [abashed.] 
Mur. Not I. 
The Rest. 

And surely 'tis not I. 
Love. What will you then ? 
Corin. We'll strive o'er this no more. 
Louis. No, rather think of those of whom we've heard. 

[Evangela steps forward, and kfteels to Love.] 

Evan. Teach us thy holy ministry, O Love, 

And our devotion shall our fealty prove. 
Show us the way, and we will follow thee, 
In this great work appoint to each some part, 
And each will yield her offering from her heart, 
Pitying the chained, — Oh set the captives free ! 

LOVE. The inner voice will whisper to the soul, 
Each one a little, thus the islands grew, 
And if united ye can mountains move. 

Corin. Let us form a mission band in Sabbath-school, 



The Evangel of the Morning Star. 45 

At evening busy fingers may be plied 
On scarf or picture, glove or broidered robe. 
Louis. Oh yes, and all we earn shall help to free 
Worse captives far away. 

Enter three or four little ones from infant class, Frank, 
Clair, etc. 

Evan. Oh, glorious thought, 

That our young hands can help in God's great work! 
T'HER. I'll net a hammock for the summer woods ; 

When told, what good the little sum will do ! 
Louis. And I can knit a shawl for sea-side wear, 
CORIN. And I can weave a watch chain from my hair, 
Claire. And I will bring this cent that father gave, 

'Twill buy a pen to write the Bible with, 
Frank. And here's my penny "bank " to buy a book, 

To teach some little Hindoo child to read. 
Love. Happy, thrice happy in your noble work ; 

'Tis work for Jesus, Christ the Blessed said, 
" Inasmuch as ye did it to the least of these 

Ye did it unto me." We'll forward then, 

And by and by you'll win your labors' crown. 

Exeunt all led by Love, singing the chorus of " March- 
ing on, Marching on." Any other Sabbath-school ehorus 
may be substituted. 

SCENE II. 

Enter at one door Una, Corrinne and Lois, who care- 
lessly hum the last two lines of a tune. Enter from other 
door, Muriel and Theresa. 

Mur. O sisters, I've this moment heard good news, 
Four strangers will be here to-day from far, 
And you can ne'er conjecture whence they come. 



46 



Entertainments. 



Corin. If they were all celestial visitants 

You could not wear a gladder look than now. 
Mur. They're children of our foreign mission schools, 

From east, west, north and south seas unexplored. 
CORIN. and LOUIS. 

Can this be so ? 

Yes we come, the angel throng. 
Una a7id Ther. Oh this is happy news ! 
Yes, now they come. 

[Enter Love with a Hindoo, or a Burmahgirl.] 



Love. 



All. 
Ther. 
Una. 
Hind. 



My sisters, happiness ! 

Greet you this daughter of far eastern skies, 

A Hindoo maiden. 

Welcome from our hearts ! 

Sit down with us and be our honored guest ; 

And fain we'd hear a story of yourself. 

My burdened heart o'erflows with thankfulness 

To greet my cherished benefactors here. 

Oh, you can never know how great the work 

Which you have done for me. My mind was blank, 

No knowledge had I of this world of ours, 

I could not trace one word on lettered page ; 

Of God or Christ or Heaven I never heard — 

A gloomy state — and yet I knew it not. 

Then Christian Love awoke your sympathies, 

And through your efforts and your offerings 

The light of grace divine pierced e'en my soul. 

Oh wondrous change ! If the half your hearts 

could know, 
You'd ne'er regret your toil or sacrifice. 
But thousands of the children of our land 
Are yet untaught, in darkness, as was I. 
O fortunate sisters, you who lifted me, 
Remember them my kindred, raise them too. 



The Evangel of the Morning Star. 47 

[Love leads in an Indian girl.~] 

LOVE. You've heard from the Orient, and now the west 
Is asking for your sympathy. 

Indian Girl. Good friends, 

You send away to India, books and men 

With words of peace, good will ; have you for us 

But the Gospel of the cannon and the sword ? 

Is it a Christian nation that from us 

Takes alfwe have, and drives us from our homes, 

Till we are left to die upon the plains ? 

O Christian children, think of this I pray ; 

Appeal you to your fathers ; if there be 

Aught beauteous in your Gospel show it us, 

That we may read it in your nation's acts. 

Re-enters the Spirits of Evil at the. other door. Love 
leads in a Greenlander by the hand, who speaks : 

GR. From ice-bound regions of the pole I come, 

To greet the children of America ; 
When ye are caring for more favored climes, 
Forget not us set in by frozen seas. 
There is no zone upon this world of ours 
So cold but warm hearts throb, affections burn. 

[Love leads in South American, or Sandwich Islander.] 

ISL. "From Greenland's icy mountains," you have heard, 
"From India's coral strand," and where the sun 
The longest lingers on the western hills ; 
But there are regions 'neath the Southern Cross 
Where Gospel light and truth have never come. 
O, ye who are thrice blessed in your birth, 
Forget not us in south Pacific seas ! 



1 

/ 






4-8 Entertainments. 

Sloth. [To the girls.] 

Oh waste of vital force ! They're better off 
To rest just where they are. That is best which is. 
LOVE. My sisters you have heard the many calls, 

North, south, from east, and from the setting sun, 
Una. Alas ! I did not think the work so vast ; 

Whatever we can do will count for naught. 
Evan. But God will take our meaning if we make 
Some sacrifice for Him, 

[Steps forward and listens^] Oh list ! far off, 
Through throbbing silence I hear a voice 
In thrilling murmurs summon me away ! 
I must obey its call. 
Lois. What can I do 

To help this effort on ? For many a month 
I've saved my silver pieces for a ring. 
Folly. Yes, and you need the jewel. Bare her hand 

Whose fingers are not set with sparkling gems. 
Lois, True, I do not want the ring. [Meets Love's eye of 
tender pleading^ No, I will give 
To God my jewel. It is safe with him. 
Love. [Drawing Lois to her side.] Heaven will accept 
your gift ; you've placed it where 
Thieves cannot steal it, and no rust corrupt. 
Sloth. Theresa, you will surely take your ease ! 
Disturb not your young life to overthrow 
God's plan ; for 'tis a part of Heaven's decree 
That some should have the Gospel, some be lost. 
Folly. Besides you surely can't the money spare ; 

You've planned a pleasure trip this week, you know, 
And recreation is for youth a duty. 
Love. [Gent/y.] Ah, to temptation will you yield so soon? 
Ther. No, dearest angel, I will take that price 
For the mission work. 



The Evangel of the Morning Star, 



49 



Love. [Love embracing her.] No pleasure is so sweet 
As sacrifice for Jesus, my dear child. 
Do you remember all how once ye strove 
Which one should be the chief on a festal day ? 
Ah, nothing so supplants the thought of self 
As some true noble work ; and most of all 
Some work for Jesus. 
SUPER. [Clutching the girls' sleeves in desperation. ,] 
Let me tell you now 

That money spent on missions is a waste. 
So many sects are working besides yours, 
AsH. [Aside reproving Super. .] You should say " ours" 
and thus hide the cloven foot ; 
We must pretend to be ourselves of the good. 
SUPER. [To girls.] Our church alone is true, all other creeds 
Are false, their efforts null ; so only ours 
Has the right to spread the Gospel. 
Ash. Hence the fact 

That foreign missions are a failure ! [Pause.] 
Love. Hark ! 

List to the strains of music far away 

The Spirit Wisdom with her band of Graces. 

Distant music growing nearer, and entrance of Graces 
the same as in scene I. Children of Church speak: 

Welcome, Christian Graces seven, 

Who reflect the light of Heaven ! 
GRACES.Hail ! the Spirit Wisdom true, 

Blessed children come to you. 
Chil. When Love joins with mortals, then 
All. Heaven in peace comes down to men ! 

[Branches arched; enter under arch Spirit of Wisdom.] 

Spirit of Wisdom. 

Well done my good and faithful ! Ye are blest 



50 Entertainments. 

Since each is happier for a sacrifice ; 

For pleasures given there's pure delight in store ; 

For jewels there's one jewel will be set 

To shine immortal in the Saviour's crown 

Ev Angela seats herself on throne, or chair, on raised 
dais in centre, k?ieels to Wisdom, and speaks : 

Forgive me, oh I pray, that naught I've done, 
Nothing could do like these more gifted ones — 
Ihad no jewels, and no talents ; naught 
To offer but myself. Wilt thou take me ? 
My soul has heard the summons ; I would go 
To teach the heathen world the name of Christ. 

Wis. Daughter, thou hast the blessing. Many well 
Have done, but thou'st excelled them all, 
For she who gives herself can nothing more. 

Chil. Though your mission is to earth 
Though to earth is clinging, 

GRACES. Beings bright of Heavenly birth 

Help unto your hands are bringing 

ALL. Angels lift you up as you go onward, singing. 

[Looking sternly, and pointi?ig to the Powers of Darkness '.] 

Wis. Have " missions failed ? " Can perish Heaven's light ? 
Can God e'er die ? And will not Truth prevail ? 
Hence ! Kneel ! for you the chains, O Powers of 

Night ! 
The Christian mission work can never fail ! 

They retire to rear of stage and kneel, vanquished. 
Wisdom speaks to Evangela : 

Maiden, arise ! happy thy way shall be. 
Go forth upon thy holy ministry ; 
This Bible take, the lantern of thy course, [Presents 
Bible.-] 



The Evangel of the Morning Star. 51 

To bear the light unto the shadowed shores. 

Proclaim the love of Christ to lands afar — 

I bless the Evangel of the Morning Star ! 

TABLEAU : THE BLESSING. 

S G G 

S F C L G G 

AC W G G 

C C E 
C 

W — Wisdom, L — Love, G G — Graces, E — Evan- 
gela, C C — other Children of the Church, A — Ashteroth, 
F — Folly, S S — Sloth and Superstition. The minor 
characters face different ivays to avoid stiffness. Wisdom 
071 throne has one hand on the kneeling Evangela's head, the 
other raised looking upward to Heaven. Ashteroth and 
companions kneel in rear. Slow, soft music, which is bro- 
ken in upon by the hymn which follows. 

VOTIVE HYMN. 

GlRLS. Sister, rise to your royal call, 

For yours is a high commission. 
4 GRACES.Spirit, be brave ! None fall 

Inspired by the Heavenly Vision. 
/ All. Eternity will show your labor's full fruition. 

[Wisdom lifts her by the hand, and she rises."] 

Evan. I must leave the friends loved fondly, scenes of child- 
hood's hallowed charms, 
But your silent prayers will cheer me, and my soul 
feels no alarms : 



52 - Entertainments. 

God my refuge, and beneath me are the everlasting 

arms. 
Once at dawn the bugle sounded over hill-tops' 

castled spires, 
When the herald came proclaiming morning in his 

chariot fires . 
I would be the Truth-Light's herald to the lands 

that see no sun, 
Ere the morn in bannered splendor signals Error's 

night is done, 

VALEDICTION. 

Wis. Haste thee on and Heaven befriend thee, 

Love. Till thy noble worship o'er, 

Chil. Grief and toils are all behind thee, 

All. And thy glory all before ; 

The Powers of Darkness pass out one door, all the others 
at the opposite in the following manner :. The Graces form 
the green arch again, under which pass Wisdom, then Evan- 
gela, then Love, then the Children of the Church. Lastly 
the Graces themselves — two at the end pass under the arch, 
then the next two, the remaining two passing out last of all. 

As they are passing out they sing " yes us 1 my cross 
have taken" or else to a chant, the valediction given above. 



Temperance Concert Exercise. 



by :m::r,s- c. :f. -wil:d:e:r,, 
PROGRAMME. 



i. Singing. — Temperance Anthem (By choir.) 

2. Prayer. 

3. Recitation. — A Ghostly Lesson. . . . (By ayounglady.) 

4. Singing. — My soul be on thy guard, 

Ten thousand foes arise ; . . . (Tune, Laban.) 

5. Dialogue. — The Wine Cup. . . . (Class of seven boys.) 

6. Scripture Recitation. — Water from the Fountain. (Seven girls.) 

7. Singing. — Gospel Hymns, No. 10. — 

Whosoever heareth, shout the sound. 

8. Catechism Exercise (Boy.) 

9.. Recitation. — Queer Medicines (Small boy.) 

10. Recitation. — Only a Stirrup-cup (A young lady.) 

ir. Recitation. — Old Rye's Speech. . . ' . (Little boy.) 

12. Singing. — Yield not to Temptation. 

13. Recitation. — Never Begin . . . . . . (By a boy.) 

14. Singing. — Am I a soldier of the cross, 

A follower of the Lamb ? 

15. Benediction. 

liii. 



TEMPERANCE CONCERT EXERCISE. 

i. Singing. — Temperance Anthem. By choir. 

2. Prayer. 

3. Recitation. — By a girl of fifteen. 



[An eloquent advocate of temperance, lately said that the greatest evil that the 
temperance cause had to contend with, was the indifference on the part of tem- 
perance men.] 



A GHOSTLY LESSON. 

By B. P. Shillaber. 

Mr. Easyman sat in his padded chair 
At the close of day, released from care . 
Wearied with striving, but well content 
That he had gained an ample per cent. 
His bosom quiet, his mind at rest, 
With wife, and children and fortune blessed, 
His cup seemed full, and running o'er,' 
When there came a sudden ring at his door 
And his servant thrust, 'mid his musings warm, 
A hand-bill. ..." Temperance Reform J '" 
' What's that to do with me ? " he said, 
As its bold heading he carelessly read. 
I'm no drunkard — no drunkard is mine ! 
This is stretching a point, I opine, 
Where a man cannot sit at his evening's ease 

54 • 



Temperance Concert Exercise. 55 

Without annoyance from things like these ! " 
He read the appeal in a petulant mood, 
And his anger rose as the case he viewed. 

" Raise the fallen ! " " Indeed ! " said he, 

" And what are the fallen ones to me ? 
Why did they fall ? Why not repel 
The sensual devils by which they fell ? 
Had they not guzzled their beer and wine 
Their fate would have been as bright as mine. 
Their wives and children ! Ah, that is true, 
What a horrid state they've been brought to ! 
With homes all ruined, and hopes all fled — 
'Twere better for them if the brutes were dead 
Well, — well, 'tis sad ; but I fail to see 
What earthly concern it is to me." 
So he laid himself back in his easy-chair, 
£[is room was silent, and warm its air — 
And while he sat in reflection deep 
He dropped off into a troubled sleep, 
Peopled with dreams of vaguest dread — 
One of which was that he was dead ; 
Deprived of power to do or say, 
And that all he'd done was done for aye. 
His dreaming bore no semblance of thought, 
Began in nothing and ended in naught. 
But a voice soon broke the terrible thrall, 
And there by his side, gaunt, ghostly and tall. 
Stood a figure from hat to boots in gray, 
Like a vapory cloud in a misty day. 

" Easyman,'' — heavily-toned, said he, 

" I have a vision for you to see ! " 
Easyman gazed 
At the figure, amazed, 
But, ere a single question he raised. 



56 Entertainments, 

The scene had changed, and older grown ; 
It seemed that years away had flown, 
And his only dear son of yesterday, 
A young man grown, o'er the public way 
Passed with associates blithe and gay, 
Singing a catch as they hurried on : 
We are jolly companions every one ! " 

His heart grew sick, 

For the voice was thick. 
Could this be the son of his love and pride, 
With all his wishes and plans allied ? — 
His son — so firm and immaculate, 
That he could choose for himself his fate, 
- And fix his standard for others weight ! 

Then he was aware, 

From the earth or the air, 

Of sounds as of friends invisible there. 
" Wine him and lager him, 

Punch him and stagger him, 
As well for us, as drown him, or dagger him ! 
And then he saw with a troubled glance, 
A sight that might well his soul entrance ; 
A scene of revel and riot wild, 
And there in the midst his darling child ! 

He could not speak to the boy of his pride, 
But he turned to the figure by nis side, 
And clasped his garments with fervid grasp 
And with choking words and sobbing gasp, 
Begged the mysterious one to avert 
The ills that threatened his boy with hurt. 

" And what is the periled one to me?" 



Temperance Concert Exercise. 57 

The Presence said with mockery : 
" I've kept myself in proper trim, 
And what have I to do with him ? " 
Then Mr. Easyman bowed his head, 
With a sense of shame, and a sense of dread, 
For well he recalled the words he had said, 
When he lay back there 
In his easy chair, 

And for those who were fallen didn't care — 
But held them in scorn, and contempt instead. 
Then other scenes went hurrying by ; 
Shocking the ear, and paining the eye, 
And among them all, the wickedest one 
Was his dearly-loved, and only son. 
He saw a ruined and squalid home, 
And a woman waiting for one to come, 
'Twas far in the night, and the ember's glare 
Shone on a face of sorrow and care — 
Revealing children slumbering there 
In the chilly breath of the frozen air. 
Hark ! there's a step upon the stair, 
Which gives new power to her despair ! 

That step ! — it comes more near ! 

'Tis here — 'tis here ! 

And fingers catch 

At the rattling latch, 
The door swings in, on its hinges wide ; 

While out from the dark, 

By the ember's spark, 
The reeling form of a man is descried 
That once was a man ; but O, how drear 
Doth he now in the dismal light appear ! 
His blood-shot eyes have an imbecile glare 
And his tottering steps reel here and there. 



5 8 Entertainments. 

As he sinks o'ercome in the only chair, 

And his lips profane breathe a drunkard's prayer, 

With tearful eye 

The wife stands by 

While bitter pangs through her bosom fly ! 
He starts in anger ; his wild eyes gleam ; 
On the still night air is a fearful scream, 
As blows descend on her feeble form ; 
And the children wake mid a direful storm, 
As the fiend in his frenzy rages and roars, 
And on wife and children his vengeance pours ; 

While, mid the din, 

Steals harshly in 

The chorus of the brood of sin . 
" Batter them ! Shatter them ! 

Shatter them ! Batter them ! 
O'er the wide world in misery scatter them ! " 

Then Easyman tore his ghostly hair 
In the frenzy wild of his deep despair, 
And he turned to catch a pitying ray 
From the stony eye of the spectre gray, 
Who shook his head 
And grimly said : 
" Better by far that the brute were dead ! 
What is it to me or to you ? " said he ; 
" He chose his fate — so let it be ! " 

A sound of strife is heard in the street, 
A strife of voices and hurrying feet ; 

And then — a flash, 

A pistol crash ! 

A hasty crowd in tumult dash ; 
Then a sudden hush, as with awe replete ! 
And a voice on the listener's ear doth fall : 



Temperance Concert Exercise. 59 

" Only a drunken row, that's all ? " 
While out from the throng, 
By muscles strong 
A thing all stark — is borne along, 
And night closes round it like a pall. 

" Spare me ! spare me ! " Easyman cries, 
" The sights I have seen shall make me wise. 

Let me, O let me, but live again 

Let things as they were before remain 

And all my heart and all my soul 

I pledge to different control. 

Let me the wrong I have done undo, 

Let me the new-found path pursue, 

And, what I most devoutly crave 

Are the means and time the fallen to save. 

Like letters of fire the dictates shine, 

And the sympathy and the work are mine." 

Lo ! a start ! and awake once more, 

He felt as he'd never felt before. 

The scales had fallen from eyes and heart, 

He saw his course as 'twere a chart ; 

And he breathed a prayer for strength to be 

Firm, in his new integrity. 

It was with transport almost wild, 

He clasped to his heart his darling child, 

His boy, the hope and pride of his life, 

And shuddered, recalling the recent strife, 

Wherein his eyes had been made to see 

A dismal fate that still might be. 

4. Singing. — My soul be on thy guard 

Te?i thousand foes arise ; (Tune, Laban.) 

5. Dialogue. — Class of seven boys. 



60 Entertainments. 

THE WINE CUP. 

Have a goblet, either Bohemian glass, or a common goblet 
lined with colored paper, wreathed with flowers and vines 
upon a prettily decked stand. A boy about fifteen dressed in 
gay attire, and considerable jewelry. He puts his hand 
towards the glass, and says : 

Jim. " Come on, boys. As Shakspeare has it : 

- Good wine is a good familiar creature if it be well used.' 
Have a drink ? " 

John. " Don't drink that sort of thing, Jim. 
I signed the pledge years ago, and as- you quoted 
Shakspeare, let me try my hand at the same thing. 
Doesn't he say : 

' Oh, that men should put an enemy in their mouths to try- 
to steal away their brains ! ' " 

Edward. "I learned Shakspeare, too, when I 
was a little shaver, and among other wise words I 

remember these : 

' O thou invisible spirit of wine, if thou hast no name to be 
known by, let us call thee devil.' " 

Henry. " I say, Jim, if I were you I wouldn't 
quote Shakspeare any more. I too, remember 
something he says, which is like this : 

' To be now a sensible man, by-and-by a fool, and presently 
a beast. Oh, strange ! Every inordinate cup is unblessed, 
and the ingredient is a devil/ " 

Jim. " I'll warrant there's lots in Shakspeare 
that / could quote to some purpose if I only knew 



Temperance Concert Exercise. 61 

it. But here is something a little better than 
Shakspeare : 

' Have a little wine for thy stomach's sake.' 
What have you to say to that, eh ? " 

Fred (the smallest hoy), " I haven't any stom- 
ach's ache, and I know some folks that drink wine, 
and they have stomach's aches ever so much more 
than people who don't drink it. Any way they 
seem to." 

Jim. " I didn't speak to you. Nobody expected 
a little fellow like you would comprehend. Here's 
George, he is one of your Sabbath-school fellows 
and he'll know that I quoted from the Bible what 
Timotlry said to Paul and Silas." 

Fred. " Well, George must be posted, if he 
knows that." 

Jim. " I don't know what you are all grinning 
about. I tell you that is in the Bible." 

George. " Yes, Jim it is in the Bible, but it is 
what Paul said to Timothy. But never mind your 
mistake. Because Paul said that to Timothy two 
thousand years ago does not make it that he said 
it to me. And as I don't know what was the mat- 
ter with Timothy's stomach I shouldn't dare to 
take any for my stomach which seems all right. 
But Paul does say to you, and to me, and to all 
of us : 

' It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any- 
thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is made weak.' 
and I find in another place that he says : 



62 Entertainments. 

* Thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, enter the Kingdom 
of Heaven.' 
That is plain enough for me." 

William. " I find in the Bible, Jim, that it 

says : 

' Woe unto him that giveth his neighbor drink, that puttest 
thy bottle to him, and makest him drunken.' 
And I also find this : 

' Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil ; that 
put darkness for light, and light for darkness ; Woe unto 
them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to 
mingle strong drink ; which justify the wicked for reward, 
and take away the righteousnes of the righteous from him. 
Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame con- 
sumeth the chaff, so their root shall be as rottenness, and 
their blossom shall go up as dust ; because they have cast 
away the law of the Lord of hosts, and despised the word of 
the Holy One of Israel.' 

And in another place it says : 

'Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, 
they shall be trodden under feet.' 

And Solomon says that : 

' He that loveth wine shall not be rich. For the drunkard 
and the glutton shall come to poverty.' " 

Thomas (the oldest hoy}. " In the Bible I find 
this, and I say, Jim, we'd better all of- us remem- 
ber it : 

' Who hath woe ? who hath sorrow ? who hath contentions ? 
who hath babbling ? who hath wounds without cause ? who 
hath redness of eyes ? They that tarry long at the wine. 
Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth 
its color in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. At the last 
it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.' 



Temperance Concert Exercise. 63 

And let me tell you that the serpent -is always 
there. It is in the cup even though decked with 
flowers." 

They draw nearer the cup, and Thomas ignites a chemical 
serpent ; they all fall back, and the serpent fiames up and 
out on the flowers. 

6. Scripture Recitation. 

WATER FROM THE FOUNTAIN. 

Seven young girls dressed in white, rise in a front seat, 
face the audience, and repeat : " 

1st. " And the people thirsted for water, and the Lord 
said unto Moses, thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall 
water come out of it that the people may drink." 

2nd. " And Isaac's servants came and told him concerning 
the well which they had digged, and said unto him : We have 
found water." 

3rd. " Ho every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters." 

4th. " Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let 
him come unto me and drink." 

5th. " For whosoever shall give a cup of water in my 
name, because ye belong to Christ, verily, I say unto you, he 
shall not lose his reward." 

6th. " For an angel went down at certain seasons into the 
water ; whosoever then first after the troubling of the water 
stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he 
had." 

7th. " And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let 
him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst say, 



64 Entertainments. 

Come, and whosoever will, let him take the water of life 
freely." 

7. Singing. — Gospel Hymns No. 10. Whosoever 
heareth, shout the sound. 

8. Catechism Exercise. — By two boys. 

CATECHISM EXERCISE. 

Who was the first martyr ? — Abel. 

Who was the first blacksmith ? — Tubal-Cain. 

Who was the first sea-captain ? — Noah. 

Who was the first drunkard ? — Noah. 

Who was the first census-taker ? — Moses, when 
he numbered the children of Israel. 

Who was the first strong-minded woman ? — 
Jezebel. 

Who was the first theological professor ? — 
Samuel. 

Who first took the temperance pledge ? — 
Mother of Samson. 

Who first pledged himself ? — Daniel. 

What is the first prohibitory law? — Look not 
on the wine when it is red. 

Where was the first temperance society held? 
In the Kingdom of Israel: house of the Recha- 
bites. 

What blessing did God promise upon the first 
temperance society? — Jer. 35: 18, 19: 



Temperance Concert Exercise. 65 

" And Jeremiah said unto the house of the Rechabites, 
Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel ; Because ye 
have obeyed the commandment of Jonadab your father, and 
kept all his precepts and done according unto all that he hath 
commanded you : Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts the 
God of "Israel ; Jonadab the son of Rechab, shall not want a 
man to stand before me forever." 

9. Recitation. — By a small boy. 

QUEER MEDICINES. 

" I'm dry," says the glutton, 
" As dry as a fish ; 

So give me a ' bumper ' 

To season my dish." 

" I'm wet," says the traveler, 
" I fain would be dry, 

Prepare for my comfort 

A glass of ' old rye ! ' 

" I'm cold ! almost frozen, 
So build up a fire 
In shape of a ' rum-punch ' 
To make me perspire." 

" I'm hot," says the other 
" From toe unto crown ; 

I'd fain have a ' julep ' 

To cool my blood down." 

And so men will swallow, 
To patch up their ills 
And change their condition, 
The devil's worst pills. 



66 Entertainments, 

10. Recitation. — By a young lady, 

ONLY A STIRRUP-CUP. 

" Fill up ! one glass before you go ! 
The moon is young, the night is keen, 
The creek-ford lies half hid between 
The drifting ice, and whirling snow, 
And the wind is fierce as a Russian knout, 
But here is a draught that will keep it out ; 
Drain it, and feel how your heart will glow ! 

" Only a stirrup-cup ! now, good-night ! 
Here's to good luck, 'till we see you again ! 
The mare only waits for the loosening rein ; " 
She'll make your five miles with the speed of a kite. 
Good-bye ! " and the horse and his rider were gone. 
But the revellers staid 'till the faint winter dawn 
Touched the world with its finger of light. 

Some miles away, in the morning gray, 
A wife looked out o'er the sheeted world, 
Weary with heaping the hearth-stone old, 
Weary with watching from dark to day, 
With hushing the children, who cried in their sleep ; 
" Listen for father, the snow is so deep, 
And he comes through the dark and cold." 

When the clock in the corner chimed slowly for three, 
And the windows all creaked in the grip of the blast, 
A sound, like the neigh of a horse, went past 
And a faint, faint voice, as of dread or dree ; 
But fiercely the wind wrenched the door from her hold 
And all she could hear were its tones manifold, 
And naught but the snow could she see. 



Temperance Concert Exercise. 67 

Night melted away in the cup of the sun, 
The joy of the day made forebodings seem vain ; 
The tea-kettle bubbled and sung on the crane. 
The heart may be heavy, but tasks must be done ; 
So the cattle were fed, and the platters were laid, 
The children went out for a lamb that had strayed, 
And the mother's day's spinning begun. 

Whiz, whiz, went the wheel, in monotonous round, 
And it seemed that its echo beat in on her brain, 
'Till a voice calling " Mother ! " again, and again, 
Pierced her, quick, like a voice that is heard in a 

swound, 
And there, with the ice frozen thick in his hair, 
Lay a snow-shrouded form on the ground. 

" Who is it ? " she cried, and a whinny replied, 
For the mare, faithful Polly, stood guard at his feet ; 
Wan, and pale was his face, and the armor of sleet 
Rattled roughly each time when the wind lightly 

sighed. 
Oh, never again, to those lips, or those eyes, 
Would the wife, or the child, bring a smile of surprise ! 
Oh ! the dumb parted lips ! Oh ! the eyes staring 

wide ! 

Little fatherless children ! The woman bereft ! 

The pale one, so robbed of his soul in the dark 

To your dumb accusations there's One sayeth 

" Hark, 
I will drive my sickle from right unto left, 
'Till the vine-wreathen pillars shall fall at its stroke, 
At the wine-wetted portals the ravens shall croak 
And the head of this demon be cleft ! " 



68 Entertainments, 

ii. Recitation. — Little boy decorated with grain. 
" OLD RYE'S SPEECH." 

I was made to be eaten, 
And not to be drank : 
To be threshed in a barn, 
Not soaked in a tank. 
I come as a blessing, 
When put through a mill ; 
As a blight and a curse 
When run through a still. 
Make me into loaves 
And your children are fed ; 
But, if into drink 
I will starve them instead. 
In bread, I'm a servant, 
The eater shall rule ; 
In drink, I am master, 
The drinker a fool. 
Then remember the warning, 
My strength I'll employ ; — 
If eaten to strengthen, 
If drank to destroy. 

1 2 . Singing. — Yield not to temptation 

13. Recitation. — By a boy. 

NEVER BEGIN. 

In going down hill on a slippery track, 
The going is easy ; the task — getting back ; 
But you'll not have a tumble, a slip nor a stop, 
Nor toil from below, — if you stay at the top. 



Temperance Concert Exercise. 69 

So from drinking - , and smoking, and every sin, 
You are safe and secure if you never begin ; 
Then never begin ! never begin ! 
You cannot be a drunkard, unless you begin. 

Some boast they can stand on the cataract's brink, 
Some do it, but some topple over and sink ; 
Then I think, to be safe, the most sensible plan 
Is to keep from the brink just as far as you can. 

So from drinking, and smoking and every sin 
You are safe and secure, if you never begin. 
Then never begin! Never begin! 
You cannot be a drunkard, unless you begin. 

14. Singing. — Am 1 a soldier of the cross, 
A follower of the Lamb ? 

.15. Benediction. 



Exercise (or Christmas Day, or Eve. 



PROGRAMME. 

i. Organ Solo. — Gloria ; Mozart. 

Or (if there is no organ in the hall) singing: 
Hark the glad sound the Saviour comes. 

2. Prayer. 

3. Scriptural Responsive Exercise. — 

Israel in need of a Saviour. Arranged by Miss A. E. Pidgson. 

4. Singing. — Awake glad heart, get up and sing. 

5. Recitation of Scripture. — .... {By twelve little girls.) 

6. Singing. — When Jordan hushed his waters still. 

7. Scriptural Responsive Exercise Continued. 

8. Singing. — Christmas Carols. 

9. Recitation. — The Overture of Angels. . . {By seven young girls.) 
to. Recitation. — Spanish Christmas Carol. 

[i. Santa Claus Frolic— In "Our Boys and Girls Maga- 
zine," (Oliver Optic's) for Dec. 
24, 1870. . '. . . By G. M.Baker. 
Or The Trapping of Santa Claus, 
in "Adventures of Miltiades 
Peterkin Paul." Price, 50 cents. 
(D. Lothrop & Co., Boston.) By John Broivnjokn. 
lxx 



EXPLANATION OF PROGRAMME. 

The responses for the children should be written out for 
them by their teachers, and may be committed to memory 
and recited by the different classes or may be simply read 
in concert. 

ISRAEL IN NEED OF A SAVIOUR. 

Sup. " A voice was heard upon the high places ; weeping 
and supplication of the children of Israel ; for they have per- 
verted their way, and they have forgotten the Lord their God." 

SCHOOL. " Behold O Lord ; for I am in distress, my heart 
is turned within me, for I have grievously rebelled." 

Sup. " Thy ways and thy doings have procured these 
things unto thee." " 

School. " For these things I weep ; mine eye runneth 
down with water, because the comforter that should relieve 
my soul is far from me." 

Sup. " Go and proclaim these words toward the north, 
and say, Return thou backsliding Israel, saith the Lord ; and 
I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you." 

School. " O Lord, our God, how excellent is thy name 
in all the earth ! Blessed is he whose transgression is for- 
given, and whose sin is covered ! " 

Sup. " Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto 
her, that her warfare is accomplished, and that her iniquity is 
pardoned : For a man shall be as an hiding-place from the 

7i 



72 Entertainments % 

wind, and a covert from the tempest ; as rivers of water in a 
dry place ; as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.'' 

School. " Sing unto the Lord ; for he hath done excellent 
things ; this is known in all the earth." 

Sup. "The people that dwell in darkness have seen a 
great light ; they that dwell in the shadow of death, upon 
them hath a great light shined." 

SCHOOL. " Cry out and shout thou inhabitant of Zion ; for 
great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee ! " 

Sup. " Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given ; 
and the government shall be upon his shoulder and his 
name shall be called Wonderful Counsellor, The Mighty 
God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace." 

School. " Awake, awake, put on thy strength, O Zion ! 
put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem the holy city." 

4. Singing. — Awake, glad heart, etc., old carol by 
Henry Vaughn who lived between 162 1 and 1695. Music 
adapted from " Redcliffe." 

AWAKE, GLAD HEART. 

Awake, glad heart ! get up and sing ! 
It is the birthday of thy King ; 

Awake ! Awake ! 

The sun doth shake 
Light from his locks and all the way 
Breathing perfumes, doth spice the day. 

I would I were some bird or star 
Flutt'ring in woods or lifted far 

Above this inn 

And road of sin ! 
That either star or bird should be 
Shining or singing still to thee. 



Christmas Exercise. 73 

5. Scripture Recitation. — For twelve little girls. 

1 st, "And there arose in the same country shepherds 
abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flocks by night. 
And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them and the glory 
of the Lord shone round about them, and they were sore 
afraid." 

2nd. " And the angel said unto them, Fear not, for be- 
hold I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to 
all people. For unto you is born this day, in the city of 
David, a Savior which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be 
a sign unto you ; ye shall find the babe wrapped up in swad- 
dling clothes, lying in a manger." 

3rd. "And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude 
of the heavenly host praising God and saying, Glory to God 
in the highest and on earth peace, good will toward men." 

4th. " And it came to pass as the angels were gone away 
from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, 
Let us now go over unto Bethlehem and see this thing which 
is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known to us." 

5th. " And they came with haste and found Mary and 
Joseph, with the babe lying in a manger, and when they had 
seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told 
them concerning this child." 

6th. " Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, 
in the days of Herod the King, behold there came wise men 
from the East to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he that is 
born King of the Jews ? for we have seen his star in the 
East and are come to worship him." 

7th. " And they said, In Bethlehem of Judea, for there it 
is written by the prophet. And thou Bethlehem in the land 
of Juda art not the least among the princes of Judah ; for 
out of thee shall come a Governor that shall rule my people 
Israel." 

8th. " Then Herod sent them to Bethlehem and said, Go 



74 Entertainments. 

and search diligently for the young child, and when ye have 
found him bring me word again that I may come and wor- 
ship him also." 

9th. " When they had heard the King they departed ; and lo, 
the star in the East, went before them till it came and stood 
over where the child was. When they saw the star they 
rejoiced with exceeding great joy." 

loth. "And when they were come into the house they saw 
the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down and 
worshipped him : and when they had opened their treasures 
they presented unto him gifts ; gold, and frankincense, and 
myrrh." 

nth. "And behold there was a man in Jerusalem whose 
name was Simeon ; and the same man was just and devout, 
waiting for the consolation of Israel : and it was revealed to 
him by the Holy Ghost that he should not see death before 
he had seen the Lord's Christ." 

1 2th. " And he came into the temple, and when the parents 
brought in the child Jesus, then took he him into his arms 
and blessed God and said : Lord now lettest thou thy ser- 
vant depart in peace according to thy word ; for mine eyes 
have seen thy salvation which thou hast prepared before the 
face of all people ; a light to lighten the Gentiles and the 
glory of thy people Israel." 

6. Singing. — By the School. Tune y Migdol. 

When Jordan hushed his waters still 

And silence slept on Zion's hill, 

When Bethlehem's shepherds thro' the night, 

Watched o'er their flocks by starry light. 

On wheels of light, on wings of flame, 
The glorious hosts of Zion came : 
High Heaven with songs of triumph rung 
While thus they struck their harps and sung. 



Christmas Exercise. 75 

O Zion, lift thy raptured eye ! 
The long expected hour is nigh, 
Renewed creation smiles again 
The Prince of Salem comes to reign, 

He comes to cheer the trembling heart, 
Bid Satan and his hosts depart ; 
Again the Day star gilds the gloom, 
Again the towers of Eden bloom. 

7. Responsive Exercise Continued. 

Sup. Where are we told of Christ's special love and sym- 
pathy with children ? 

SCHOOL. " Jesus called them unto him and said, Suffer 
little children to come unto me and forbid them not : for 
of such is the kingdom of God." 

Sup. How are we taught by Christ's example, the duty 
of submission to parents? 

School. " And he went down with them and came to 
Nazareth, and was subject unto them." 

8. Singing. — Christmas Carols. Star of the East, 
a carol by Brady E. Backus. This is for two children, 
to be sung in successive solos, followed by chorus, The 
Angels sang in the Silent Night, by J. B Marsh ; or, 
Wake ye faithful Christians, a carol for the full school. 

9. The Oveeture of Angels. — The Angels of the 
Seven Planets, in "Longfellow's Golden Legend" furnishes 
seven appropriate recitations for Christmas time for girls, 
if desired'. The Wise Men of the East, which follows 
may be recited by three boys. The girls should be dressed 
as angels, the central one should hold a wand tipped with a 
large silver-paper star. 



7 6 Entertainments. 

10. The following translation of a quaint Spanish 
Christmas Carol may be recited by a boy. 

He was born in a hovel 

Of spider webs full ; 
Beside him there grovel 

An ox and a mule. 
And King Melchior bade 

To honor the day, 
And that none might be sad, 

The musicians should play, 

I'm a poor little gipsy 

From over the sea : 
I bring him a chicken 

That cries " quiri-qui ; '' 
For each of us sure, 

Should offer his part - 
Be you ever so poor, 

You can give him your heart. 

Good night, Father Joseph ; 

Madonna so mild, 
We leave with regret 

Your adorable child, 
With the crown on his locks 

The symbol of rule ; 
Sleep in peace Senor Ox, 

God bless you, Sir Mule. 

If more recitations or songs are desired, two very good ones 
maybe found in "Rhymes and Jingles" by Mrs. Mary 
Mapes Dodge ; A song of St. Nicholas, page 38, and 
Christmas Bells, page 10. 



Christmas Exercise. 77 

SANTA CLAUS FROLIC. 

[By G. M. Baker. From " Our Boys and Girls."] 

The rising of the curtain discloses a room with a fire- 
place, above which are hung stockings of various sizes, from 
baby's sock to Bridget 's long and broad hose. Six or eight 
children, in nightgowns and caps, stocking feet, with lighted 
candles in their ha?ids, come straggling in. They move 
about, looking up the chimney now and then, and singing 
to the air of " We're all noddirf." 

Girls. We are all waiting, wait,wait, waiting, 
We are waiting for Santa Claus to come, 
To catch him we're waiting, he surely will be here 
The moments fly quickly, and midnight draws near. 

ALL. We're all waiting, wait, wait, waiting, 

We're all waiting for Santa Claus to come. 

Boys. We are freezing, freeze, freeze, freezing, 

We are all freezing here, waiting in the cold 

For Santa Claus to bring us our presents we wait, 

Come hurry old fellow, 'tis getting very late. 

All. We're all freezing, freeze, freeze, freezing, 
We're all freezing here, waiting in the cold. 

Girls. We're all nodding* nod, nod, nodding, 

We're all nodding and dropping off to sleep, 
To our warm little beds, it is time we should go, 
Come hurry, Good Santa, pray don't be so slow. 

All. For we're all nodding etc. 

Boys. We are all yawning, yaw, yaw, yawning, 
We're all yawning so let's go off to bed. 

Girls. To stay any longer were surely unwise, 

We'll wait for the daylight to open our eyes. 

All. For we're all yawning, yaw, yaw, yawning, 
We're all yawning and going off to bed. 

[Exeunt right and left, smging last lines.'] 



78 Entertainments. 

1 
Santa Clans peeps out from chimney ; then enters. 
Costume : rubber boots with pantaloons tucked into them ; 
heavy fur coat with red comforter tied roimd it for a sash ; 
red scarf about neck, peaked fur cap, long grey hair and 
beard, very red face ; strapped to his back a basket of toys. 

[Santa, looking right and left.] 

Ho, ho, my little rogues ! You set a trap 
To catch me napping : now, who takes a nap ? 
I'm an old schemer ; even your sharp eyes 
Could never find me in this queer disguise. 
Dream on, my darlings, while I treasures heap, 
Ho, ho ! to fill your hose while you're asleep : 
/ Year after year, I drop in on the sly 

Through chimneys made for me so broad and high : 
To pop down them is made my cheerful duty 
It suits me too — sometimes almost too sooty \ 

[Takes basket off back.] 

Let's see, what year is this ? why, bless my eyes, 

It's 1879 ! Bless us ! how .time flies !- 

And children multiply so fast, 'tis clear 

A partner I must have another year. 

I'm really getting old ; this wrinkled phiz 

Of good old age a striking symbol is. 

And yet I'm strong, can frolic, dance or play 

With young folks yet, for many a Christmas day. 

So I'll not grumble : while I can, I'll strive 

To let my boys and girls know I'm alive, 

That though my head is grey, my heart is young, 

And green as Christmas boughs around me hung. 

Song. — Air, The little brown man. By Santa Claus. 

I am Santa Claus, old as you see ; 



Christmas Exercise. 79 

I drop in once a year, on a Christmas spree ; 

Plump is my figure, wrinkled is my face ; 

I'm a jolly little fellow and love the human race. 

And I sing and I laugh, and I laugh and I sing, 

And I laugh, ha, ha, ha, 

For I'm a jolly, jolly, jolly, little, little, little, 

Fat, fat, fat Santa Claus. 

Hallo, hallo ! why this will never do ! 

Business, old Santa Claus, can't wait for you, 

And so to work ! Let me first be sure 

The children sleep. {Listens^ Ha, ha, I hear them 
snore ! 
Children [outside]. 

We are all dreaming, dream, dream, dreaming, 

We are all dreaming that Santa Claus has come. 
SANTA. Dream on my darlings, unto each and al] of you 

Morn shall bring joy : your dreams shall be true. 

Here are the stockings : bless me, what a row ! 

Little and big, they make a wondrous show. 

/ [As he speaks he fills stockings?^ 

First comes the baby's, what a tiny thing ! 

'Twill just hold a rattle, and a rubber ring ; 

This is a girl's, so very neat and small, 

I'll stuff it with candy and a rubber doll ; 

Ah ! here's a boy's. It's very strong and blue 

A nice new pair of skates, my lad, for you. 

Another girl's ! what can I find to please her 

Ah ! here's a tea-set, don't think that's a teazer ! 

Another boy's ! Ho, this will never do ! 

Hole in the heel : a present would drop through ; 

A ball of yarn will make him wiser grow — 

'Twill mend his stockings and his habits too. 

What monster's this ? It must be Bridget's, sure, 

'Twould hold all I have brought, I fear much more : 



80 Entertainments. 

A nice new gingham dress, a good warm shawl 

Don't fill it ; then here goes a water-fall. 

And now I'm off. (Sees audiejiee.} Hallo ! 

Whom have we here ? 

I really am found out ; that's very clear. 

Don't expose me, for I did not mean 

Upon my annual visit to be seen. 

If you are all my children, 'tis not fair 

To tell my secrets, even to the air ; 

So keep them close, don't whisper I've been here, 

And shut your eyes ; I'm going to disappear. 

With Merry Christmas wishes all I greet, 

Hoping next year my visit to repeat ; 

Now, good night, I'm off — yet, ere I go 

A little magic I propose to show ; 

Shut fast your eyes a minute ; one, two, three ! 

Presto ! change ! behold the Christmas tree. 

The Christmas tree, lighted, and hung with ornaments 
and presents should be arranged on the back of the stage : 
in front of it should be hung a curtain that will stretch 
across the stage. This curtain should represent the side 
of the room, in the middle of which is the chiinney and fire- 
place, a square hole being cut in it, even with which will 
be the front edge of the mantelpiece. The fire-place may 
be arranged by setting a large, deep, dry-goods box on end, 
the front and upper end bei?ig removed. Line this with 
black muslin or paper, nail a narrow board on the front 
edge covered with lambrequins, this to represent the mantel 
shelf. As the curtain falls — the upper part of it just behind 
the back edge of this narrow. strip — the open, upper part 
of the box is left behind the curtain. Andirons and fender 
should be put in place, and the box held by some one firmly 



Christmas Exercise. 81 

in its place while Santa Claus steps down from a high chair 
through the box, coming out of the front as from a chim- 
ney. As Santa Claus repeats the words, " Presto, change / " 
the box should be removed, the curtains drawn back as 
quickly as possible, disclosing the tree trimmed with balls, 
candles, strings of pop-corn, cranberries, bags of candy, etc. 
Circles of bright cambric, gathered up and tied with 
ribbon, are more ornamental and more easily made than 
lace stockings. Pretty cherub faces printed on paper may 
be made useful by sewing on skirts of tarlatan behind the 
arms. Appropriate mottoes on the walls add to the beauty 
of the occasion. 



"Chita's Day" Service 

FOR THE 

METHODIST EPISCOPAL SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

Xi IL 3T -SHUT ID .A.Y . 
[Palm Sunday of the Roman Catholic Calendar. See Note.] 



PROGRAMME. 



i. Music, — Come Gentle Spring. (Instrumental or vocal.) 

(Haydn.) ....... From The Seasons. 

2. Prayer. • 

3. Singing. — Consider the Lilies (Anthem by choir.) 

4. Remarks — By the Pastor. 

5. A Recitation from the Scriptures (By a girl.) 

6. Scripture Directions. — How to be a Lady, and how to 

be*&. Gentleman. (Several boys and girls.) 

7. Chorus. — Spring Song Abt. 

8. Recitation — What we think of the Bible. 

(Supt. Pastor and S. S. Teachers.) 

9. Singing. — How precious is the book divine, 

By inspiration given. Tune, Naomi. (By a boy.) 

10. Recitation. — Fame. (By a lady teacher .) 

n. Recitation. — Work. From Mrs. Browning. 

12. Part Song. — Forest Vales. Mendelssohn. 

13. Recitation. — Plants from a Garden of Spices. . . (Infant class.) 

14. Hymn. — Coronation. 

15. Benediction. 

lxxxii 



Note. 

" Palm Sunday, the last Sunday in Lent, is so called from the custom of bless- 
ing branches of palms and olives. In many countries other trees, as in England, 
the yew or the willow, and in Brittany the box, are blessed instead. The first 
writer who expressly refers to it is the venerable Bede. A special service is 
found for it in the Roman missal. In England, Palm Sunday anciently was 
celebrated with much ceremonial, but the custom was discontinued in the Church 
of England in the reign of Edward VI." 



THE EXERCISE. 

Church to be elaborately decorated with flowers {placing 
the lilies on the altar) and branches of trees among which 
hang cages of birds. Place the Sunday-school banner with 
the Infant school, and give the children the best seats in the 
church. 

i. Music. — Come Gentle Spring. From the Seasons. 
Haydn. 

2. Prayer. 

3. Singing. — Consider the Lilies. Anthem by choir. 

4. Remarks. — By the Pastor. 

5. Recitation. — Song of Solomon. The Hope and 
Calling of the Church. By a girl. 

The voice of my Beloved ! behold, he cometh leaping 
upon ihe mountains, skipping upon the hills. My beloved 
spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and 
come away, For lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and 

83 



84 Entertainments, 

gone : the flowers appear on the earth ; the time of the sing- 
ing birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our 
land. The fig-tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vine 
with the tender grapes give a good smell. Arise, my love, 
my fair one, and come away. Awake, O north wind, and 
come thou south, blow upon my garden, that the spice there- 
of may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden, and 
eat his pleasant fruits. 

6. Scripture Directions. — How to be a Lady and 
how to be a Gentleman. Copied on separate slips of paper 
and given to twelve girls in different parts of the audience, 
who rise and read; also to twelve boys who do likewise. 

i st. For the Lord taketh pleasure in his people : he will 
beautify the meek with salvation. Psa. 149 : 4. 

2nd. Favor is deceitful and beauty is vain : but a woman 
that feareththe Lord, she shall be praised. Prov. 31 : 30. 

3rd. Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit 
before a fall. Prov. 16: 18. 

4th. He^that loveth pureness of heart, for the grace of 
his lips, the king shall be his friend. Prov. 22 : 11. 

5th. He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed : for he 
giveth of his bread to the poor. Prov. 22 : 9. 

6th. The ear that heareth the reproof of life abideth among 
the wise. Prov. 15 : 31. 

7th. A wholesome tongue is a tree of life ; but perverse- 
ness therein is a breach in the spirit. Prov. 15.4. 

8th. Righteous lips are the delight of kings, and they love 
him that speaketh right. Prov. 16 : 12. 

9th. Pleasant words are as an honey-comb, sweet to the 
soul and health to the bones. Prov. 16 : 24. 

10th. The hand of the diligent maketh rich. Prov. 10:4. 

nth. Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be 



"Children's Day" Service' 85 

established. Turn not to the right hand nor to the left; 
remove thy foot from evil. Prov. 4 : 26, 27. 

1 2th. (An older girl than the others?) Wherefore, seeing 
we are also compassed about with so great a cloud of wit- 
nesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin that doth so 
easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is 
set before us. Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher 
of our faith. Heb. 12 : 1, 2. 

[Boys now recited] 

1st. Be kindly affectioned one to another. Rom. 12 ; ich 

2nd. If thine enemy hunger feed him, if he thirst give him 
drink. Rom. 12 : 20. 

3rd. Let your conversation be without covetousness : and 
be content with such things as ye have. Heb. 13:5. 

4th. It is good neither to eat flesh nor to drink wine nor 
anything whereby thy brother stumbleth. Rom. 14 : 21. 

5th. Abhor that which is evil, cleave to that which is 
good. Rom. 12: 9. 

6th. Comfort the feeble minded ; support the weak. 
I. Thess. 5 : 14. 

7th. Mind not high things but condescend to men of low 
estate. Rom. 12 . 16. 

8th. Let patience have her perfect work. Jas. 1 : 4, 

9th. Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry. Eccl. 7 : 9. 

10th. Be courteous. I. Peter 3 : 8. 

nth. As ye would that men should do to you, do ye also 
to them likewise. Luke 6 . 31. 

1 2th. Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy 
God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all 
thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. 
And the second is like unto it, Thou shall love thy neighbor 
as thyself. Matt. 22 : 37,38,39, 

7. Chorus. — Spring Song. 



86 Eiitertainments. 

8. Recitation. — What we think of the Bible I Su- 
perintendent repeats first answer, the Pastor the second 
and seventh, and the S. S. Teachers the others. 

ist. Supt. Give me understanding and I shall keep thy 
law, for therein do I delight, O Lord my God. 

2nd. Pastor. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a 
light unto my path. 

3rd. S. S. Teacher. How sweet are thy words unto my 
taste, yea sweeter than honey to my mouth. 

4th. S. S. Teacher. Thy word have I hid in my heart 
that I might not sin against thee. 

5th S. S. Teacher. The entrance of thy word giveth 
light. 

6th. S. S. Teacher. Thy statutes have been my song in 
the house of my pilgrimage. 

7th. Pastor. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God 
and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for 
instruction in righteousness.' 

9. Singing. — How precious is the book divine 

By inspiration given. Tune, Naomi. 

10. Recitation. — By a boy. 

FAME. 

What shall I do lest life in silence pass ? 

And if it do, 
And never prompt the bray of noisy brass, 

What need'st thou rue ? 
Remember, aye the Ocean's deeps are mute ; 

The shallows roar ; 
Worth is the Ocean — Fame is but the bruit 

Along the shore. 



"Children's Day" Service. 87 

What shall I do to be forever known ? 

Thy duty ever. 
This did full many who yet sleep unknown. 

Oh ! never, never — 
Think'st thou, perchance, that they remain unknown 

Whom thou know'st not ? 
By angel-trumps in heaven their praise is blown, 

Divine their lot. 

What shall I do to gain eternal life ? 

Discharge aright 
The simple dues with which each day is rife ; 

Yea, with thy might. 
Ere perfect scheme of action thou devise 

Will life be fled ; 
Wl^ile he, who ever acts as conscience cries, 

Shall live, though dead. 

ii. Recitation. — By a lady teacher. 

WORK. 

What are we set on earth for ? Say, to toil ; 

Nor seek to leave thy tending of the vines, 

For all the heat of the day, till it declines, 

And Death's wild curfew shall from work assoil. 

God did annoint thee with his odorous oil, 

To wrestle, not to reign ; and He assigns 

All thy tears over, like pure crystallines, 

For younger fellow-workers of the soil 

To wear for amulets. So others shall 

Take patience labor to their heart and hand 

From thy heart and thy hand ; and thy brave cheer 

Shall God's grace make fruitful through thee to all. 

The least flower with a brimming cup may stand 

And share its dew-drop with another near. 



88 Entertainments. 

12. Part Song. — Forest Vales. Mendelssohn. 

13. Recitation. — Plants from a Garden of Spices. 

All the children in the Infant classes ; the girls in white 
with branches in their hands, the boys also with larger 
branches. All march to the platform. Arrange row of 
smallest children in front, then shorter row of taller child- 
ren behind these, and so on, until you have a pyramid of 
heads and branches. Have the arranging practiced so 
that the places can be taken without confusion. When ar- 
ranged they may recite the following texts and verses : 

1st. Whose glorious beauty is a fading flower. Isa. 38 : 13. 

2nd. Because as the flower of the grass he shall pass 
away. Jas. 1 : 10. 

3rd. All thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and 
cassia. Psa. 45 : 8. 

4th. And the house of Israel called the name thereof 
manna : and it was like coriander-seed, white. Ex. 16 : 31. 

5th, A branch with one cluster of grapes and they bare 
it between two upon a staff. Num. 13 : 23. 

6th. And they brought of the pomegranites and of the 
figs. Num. 13: 23. 

7th. The desert shall blossom as the rose. Isa. 35 : 1. 

8th. He shall grow as the lily. Hosea. 14 : 5. 

9th. Who is he that cometh out of the wilderness like pil- 
lars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense? 
Cant. 3 : 6. 

10th. Thy plants are an orchard with pleasant fruits ; 
camphire with spikenard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon. 
Cant. 4: 13, 14. 

nth. Instead of the thorn shall come up the fig free 
and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree. 
Isa. 55: 13. 



" Children's Day " Service. 89 

1 2th. Tell me, gard'ner, dost thou know 

Where the rose and lily grow ? 

Rude is yet the opening year 

Yet their sweetest breath is here. 
13th. I am the rose of Sharon 

And the lily of the valley. 
14th. Seek we then the Lord above 

See his face and know his love ; 

If we love Him we shall know 

Where the rose and lily grow. 

— Bishop Coxe, 

14. Hymn. — Coronation. 

15. Benediction. 



Sunday Evening Exercise. 

DEATH AND RESURRECTION. 

LSuitable for Easter.] 



PROGRAMME. 



i. Music — Bright shines the golden sun. 

2. School. — Repeat in concert, Rom. 14: 8. 

3. Reading.— A parable about a dewdrop. (From Children's Church at 

Home, and National Sunday-School Teacher, Oct. 72.) 

4. Recitation. — The Reaper and the Flowers. By Longfellow. (Bryant's 

Library of Poetry and Song, p. 184.) 

5. Music. — There is a happy land. 

6. Reading.— Little Dora. (Nat. S. S. Teacher, April, 73.) Rev. John Todd. 

7. School. — Repeat in concert, John 11 : 25. 

8. Recitation. — Texts by an older pupil, illustrated by living plants if 

possible. John 12 : 24. I. Cor. 13 : 35-38. 
g. Sermon. — On Death. (From Children's Sermons. A little pamphlet by 
J. G. Merrill, Davenport, Iowa.) 

10. Recitation. — By a very little child. Good night and good morning. (Child 

Life, p. 62.) 

11. Solo. — My Ain Countree. 

12. Recitation. — An Eastern Carol. (St. Nich, 18761 April, p. 385.) 

13. Recitation — "When with one foot on the water, 

And one upon the shore, 
The angel of sadness gives warning 

That day shall be no more. 
Happy is he that heareth 

The signal of his release, 
In the bells of the Holy City, 

In the chimes of eternal peace.' ' 

14. Music. — Only waiting. 



(Additional.) 

LIFE AND DEATH. 

[By Kate Cameron.] 

The following poem may be recited in alternate lines or 
verses, as indicated, by two little girls, Life and Death ; 
one, Life, holding roses, and the other, Death, holding a stalk 
of lilies. 

Both. Two angels standing by our side : 

Ah ! which will prove the better guide ? 

Life. Fair Life, adorned with roses bright. 

Death. Pale Death, arrayed in lilies white. 

Life. We speak of one with joy and cheer, 

Death. The other we forget, or fear. 

Life. One leads us up the flowery slope 

Where bloom the buds of earthly hope. 

9i 



92 Entertainments, 

Death. The other lays those flowers in dust, 
And tramples on our fondest trust. 

Life. One calls dear friends to cheer our way, 
And gives the sunshine to our day. 

Death. The other in the gloom of night, 

Brings out the stars to yield us light. 

BOTH. Oh Life ! Oh Death ! which is the best? 
The toil of earth, or Heaven's rest ? 

Life. The loved ones present at our side, 

Death. Or sainted spirits, sanctified ? 

Life. 'Tis well we are not left to say 

Which we will choose to lead the way ; 
With Life we now walk hand in hand. 

Death. But Death will come at God's command, 
E'en now there's but a step between ! 
For he is near us tho' unseen. 

Life. Sweet Life, with thee there's much of joy 
Tho' mingled all with grief's alloy. 

Death. But Death a better portion gives, 
The pleasure that in Heaven lives. 

BOTH. O ! if our faith be not in vain, 
" To live is Christ, to die is gain." 



Sunday Evening Exercise. 93 

(Additional.) 

The following quaint device by the anciefit writer, George 
Herbert, may be made use of in decoration. These lines 
should be printed, or painted, in old English text : 

EASTER WINGS. 

My tender age in sorrow did begin : 

And still with sicknesses and shame 

Thou didst so punish sin, 

That I became 

Most thin ; 

With Thee 

Let me combine 

And feel this day thy victory — 

For if I lean my wing on thine 

Affliction shall advance the flight in me. 



Lord, who createdst man in wealth and store,- 

Though foolishly he lost the same, 

Decaying more and more 

'Till he became 

Most poor, 

With Thee 

Oh ! let me rise, 

As larks harmoniously, 

And sing this day thy victories — 

Then shall the fall further the flight in me. 



FLOWER CONCERT. 



A flower concert given at the last of May or first of June, may be very beauti- 
ful. The hall and stage should be elaborately decorated -with boughs and blos- 
soms of all kinds, especially the stage, which should represent a garden. The 
performers and singers should ornament themselves with flowers as far as pos- 
sible. The following is an entertaining programme, in which the solos and duets 
maybe taken by the older members of the school, while the recitations and the 
little drama are for the younger ones, and are extremely pretty when rendered 
with spirit. 

PROGRAMME. 

Opening. — Piano Solo. 

i. Chorus. — In the beauty of the Lilies, etc. (Mrs. Howe's Battle Hymn of 
the Republic) Tune, John Brown's body. 

2. Duet. — There's a sweet wild rose. . " . Glover. 

3. Solo. — Won t you buy my pretty flowers ? . . . Persley. 

4. Recitation. — Jack in the Pulpit. 

5. Solo. — 'Tis the last rose of summer. .... Flotow. 

6. Praise meeting among the flowers ; sixteen varieties being present. 



•Down among the lilies. 



II. 



Trio. 

Solo. — The rose bush. 
Duet.— Maybells and the flowers. 
Solo. — The last violet. 
Duet. — Rosebud, dainty and fair to see 
Recitation. — You must wake and call me early. 
Recitation. — Little drama ; May-day in-doors. 
xciv 



Glover, 

Hodges. 

Mendelssohn. 

Mendelssohn. 

Pease. 

. Tennyson. 

Mrs. Diaz. 



PRAISE MEETING AMONG THE FLOWERS. 

TAnonymous.] 

The Praise Meeting among the Flowers should be repre- 
sented by sixteen little girls who shall each recite one stanza, 
while the first and last stanzas are recited in unison. .They 
may be dressed in white, with wands twined with the flowers 
they represent. They may enter in line, describing a double 
curve, in serpentine fashion, or in any other form that 
will add motion and spirit to the performance. When the 
Rose reaches the centre of the platform for the second time, 
all should halt and repeat the first verse in unison. The 
Rose then advances, looks at her wand, and repeats her 
verse, the others following in turn, till the last verse is 
reached, which should be repeated in concert. 

The flowers of many climates, 

That bloom all seasons through, 

Met in a stately garden, 

Bright with morning dew. 

For praise and loving worship 
The Lord they came to meet ; 

Her box of precious ointment 

The Rose broke at his feet. * 

95 



96 Entsrtainments, 

The Passion-flower, His symbol 
Wore fondly on her breast ; 

She spoke of self-denial, 

As what might please him best. 

The Morning-glories, fragile 
Like infants soon to go, 

Had dainty toy-like trumpets 
And praised the Master so. 

" Thy words are like to honey," 
The Clover testified ; 

" And all who trust Thy promise, 
Shall in Thy love abide." 

The Lilies said, " Oh trust Him ! 

We neither toil nor spin, 
And yet his house of beauty 

See how we enter in." 

The King-cup and her kindred 
Said, " Let us all be glad ! 

Oh, his redundant sunshine ! 
Behold how we are clad." 

" And let us follow Jesus," 

The Star of Bethlehem said ; 
And all the band of Star-flowers 
Bent down with reverent head. 

The glad Sun-flower answered, 

And little Daisies bright, 
And all the cousin Asters — 
" We follow toward the light." 

" We praise Him for the mountains," 



Flower Concert. 97 

The Alpine roses cried ; 
" We bless Him for the valleys," 
The Violets replied. 

" We praise Him," said the Air-plants, 

" For breath we never lack ; " 
" And for the rocks we praise Him," 
The Lichens answered back. 

" We praise God for the water," 
The salt Sea-mosses sighed ; 
And all His baptized Lilies 
" Amen ! Amen ! " replied. 

" And for the cool green woodlands 
We praise and thanks return," 
Said Kalmias and Azalias, 

And graceful, feathery Fern. 

" And for the wealth of gardens, 

And all the gard'ner thinks, " 
Said Roses and Camelias, 

And all the sweet-breathed Pinks. 

[< Hosanna in the Highest," 
The Baby Bluets sang ; 
And little trembling Harebells, 
Their softest music rang. 

' The winter hath been bitter, 

But sunshine follows storm ! 
Thanks for His loving kindness, 

The earth's great heart is warm :" 

Thus spoke the Pilgrim May-flower, 
That cometh after snow. 



98 Entertainments, 

The humblest and the sweetest 
Of all the flowers that blow. 

Thank God for every weather, 
The sunshine and the wet," 
Spake out the cheery Pansies, 
And darling Mignonette. 

" And so our love and worship, 

Our praise we here would bring 
For our Maker ne'er forgets us 
Nor can we forget him." 



MAY-DAY IN DOORS 

[Reprinted by permission.] 



CHARACTERS. 



Arthur, William Tell; Ned, the Tyrant; Tommy, 
TelVs son ; George, Caroline, Lucy, Anna, Polly, 
Kate. Girls are all dressed in white ', and have little 
flags, George has a larger flag. 

Scene. — Room in home of Ned, Polly and Tommy. 
Lunch baskets, etc., on chairs ; Polly sits holding her hat, 
shawl and sack. Tommy is seated on floor, playing 
with marbles ; and a much larger boy leans over the 
back of a chair. 

Ned (dolefully). " We shall have to give it 
up, Polly. No May-party to-day." (Goes to win- 
dow.) 

Polly (earnestly). " Oh ! don't you think the 
clouds will blow over?" 

Ned. " The whole sky will have to blow over. 
It's all lead color." 

Polly (sighing'). " Oh dear, dear, dear ! " 
99 



ioo Entertainments. 

Voices heard outside. Enter, with a rush, Caroline, 
Lucy, Anna, Kate, George, and Arthur, with baskets, 
tin pails, etc. The boys' hats are trimmed with evergreen, 
the girls, with flowers. Tommy leaves off playing with 
marbles, to watch new comers. 

George {throwing down long coil of evergreen). 
" Here we come ! " . 

Lucy (speaking fast). " Yes, here we come, pell 
mell ! It's going to pour ! " 

Caroline (in haste). " Oh, how we have hurried ! 
I felt a great drop fall on my nose ! " 

Anna (out of breath). "And think of our 
dresses, our span clean, white dresses ! " 

Kate (in haste). "No procession to-day! No 
dancing around the May-pole ! " 

Arthur throws up hat and catches it. George does the 
sa?7ie. 

Lucy. " They got all that evergreen to trim the 
May-pole, and George brought his flag." 

Ned. "If it had been pleasant to-day I'd have let 
it rain a week afterward ! " 

G-eorge (stepping to window). "There! it pours. 
It's lucky we hurried." 

Polly. "Now all of you stay here and keep 
May-day with us (clapping hands). Do ! do ! " 

Caroline. " Will your mother like it ? " 

Polly. "I'll go and ask her." (Goes out.) 



May- Day in Doors. 101 

Ned. "Any way you can't go till it holds up." 

[Girls go to window.'] 
Arthur. " That may not be for a week." 
[Enter Polly in hasted] 

Polly, " She says we may do any thing but make 
'lasses candy." 

Ned. " The last time we made it, father said he 
found some in his slipper-toes." 

Girls take off hats and shawls, which with baskets are 
placed in a corner ; some take seats, some stand. 

Arthur. "Now what shall we do with our- 
selves?" 

Ned. " Let's get up some entertainment. Tick- 
ets, ten cents ; grown folks, double." 

Kate. " So I say, and call ourselves a ' troupe,' 
or ' family,' or something." 

Greorge. " Something that has a foreign sound." 
Arthur. " How would Totopski do ? " 
Caroline, Lucy and Anna. " Splendid ! " 
Anna. " Let us call ourselves the Totopski 
Family." 

Lucy. " But what shall we have for our enter- 
tainment ? " 

Polly. " I think tableaux are perfectly splendid." 
Anna. "Oh, I tell you; have the kind that 
winds up." 



102 Entertainments. 

George. " Why, all entertainments wind up 

when they are done." 

Anna. " I mean have each one wound up with 

a key, and then they move." 

Arthur. " She means Mrs. Jarley's Wax-works." 
Ned. " All right, we'll have the winding kind." 
Caroline. " What wax-works shall we have ? " 
Ned. "We might have William Tell shooting 

the apple, -for one." 

Tommy. " I've seen that. It will take three to 

do that. Mr. Tell and his son, and the cross 

tyrant." 

G-eorge. " And the apple makes four." 
Anna. « Who'll be Mr. Tell ? You, Ned ? " 
Ned. " No, I'd rather be the cross tyrant. I 

feel just right for that. Arthur'll be Mr. Tell." 
Arthur. " Oh, yes, I'll be Mr. Tell ; and Tommy 

can be the boy. {Tommy moves toivard the door.') 

Where are you going, Tommy ? " 

Tommy {going out). " After my bow an' arrow." 
Lucy (bringing an apple from her basket). 

" Here's the apple ! " 

Caroline. " What shall we do for a feather ? 

Mr. Tell's hat must have a feather." 

Kate. "Twist up a piece of newspaper." 

(Turns Arthur's hat upon one side, fastens in apiece 

of twisted paper loose at the top.) There you have 

it ! and Polly's sacque turned inside out, will do for 

a tunic." 



May- Day in Doors. 103 

ARTHURj>uts on hat and sacque ; the sacque is lined with 
a bright color. 

Polly. " He ought to have a wide sash." 

Lucy (taking off hers). " Here, take mine." 

Polly. " Not that kind of a sash ! " 

Anna. " Oh, that won't do ! " 

Caroline. " It should be a scarf." 

Ned (tying the sash at the side, around Arthur's 
waist). " Oh, never mind, we're only rehearsing." 

Lucy. " How must the cross tyrant be dressed? 
Who knows? " 

Anna. " The tyrant I saw had a cape hung over 
one shoulder. A shawl will do for that. (Brings 
shawl, which Ned hangs over his left shoulder.) Now 
what must he wear on his head ? " 

Lucy. " I should think a tyrant ought to wear 
a tall hat." 

Polly (going). " I'll get father's." 

Anna (to Polly). "And something bright to 
put on it. I remember that part, plainly." 

Greorge (calling after Polly). " And something 
long for a sword." 

[Exit, Polly.] 

Caroline. "If the boys do that, can't we make 
ourselves into wax-works ? " 

Anna. " Let's be a May-day wax-work, singing 
and dancing around a pole." 

Greorge. " I'll be the pole." 

Caroline. " But you are not long enough." 



104 Entertainments. 

George (mounting a chair'). " Now I am ! " 
G-irls (laughing and clapping). "Oh yes ! oh 

yes ! He'll do ! trim him up, trim him up ! " 

Ned (to George). "Yes, come down, and be 

trimmed up." 

George steps down, stands erect, arms close to his body. 
Girls hand garlands ; Ned winds them around George. 

Kate. " Shall we hoist the flag ? " 

Ned. " Oh yes ! bring me the flag. And here's 
a string (taking a hall of string out of his pocket), 
to fasten it on with." 

Ned fastens the flag to George's head by winding 
the string around, then helps him to mount the chair. 

" Three cheers for the flag ! Now — one, two, 
three ! ( All cheer and clap.) 

[Enter Polly with an old hat and a poker ■.] 

Polly. "Won't this hat do? Mother couldn't 
have father's good one banged about." 

George. " Oh, that's good enough ! we're only 
rehearsing. Did you get something bright ? " 

[Ned puts on hat."] 

Polly (taking out yellow bandanna handkerchief). 
" Mother said this was quite bright." 

Anna. " Why, I meant something shiny, like a 
clasp or a buckle." 



May-Day in Doors. 105 

Kate, " No matter, we're only rehearsing." 
[Ned ties handkerchief round hat so the corners hang down. 

Polly (hands the poker). "Here's your sword. 
That's the longest thing I could find." 

All laugh. Ned seizes poker, and strikes a military atti- 
tude. Enter Tommy with bow andarro7v. 

Tommy. Where shall I stand up ? " 
Arthur. " Come this way (leads Tommy to one 
side of stage, Ned follows). Ned, you must scowl 
and look fierce. Tommy, fold your arms, and stand 
still as a post." 

Puts an apple on Tommy's head, and takes aim with 
bow and arrow. 

Tommy. " Oh, I'm afraid ! Look out for my 
eyes ! The arrow might go off." 

Arthur. " I'll put the apple in the chair." 

Tommy stands motionless. Arthur aims at apple on 
chair; Ned stands by with drawn sword; then all three 
resume their former positions. 

Kate. " Now we girls must stand round the 
May-pole. (They gather round the pole.) Who'll 
wind?" 

The Girls. " You, you, you ! " 

Polly. " What a little circle ; wish we had more 
girls — " 



106 Entertainments. 

Kate (to Anna). "How shall I wind up the 
wax- works ? " 

Anna. " The ones I saw all stood on a string, 
and the string led to a box, and when the box was 
wound up, the wax-works began to act their parts. 
A door-key will do to wind with." 

Kate. " We'll manage the same way." 

Kate lays a long string- on the floor, passes it under 
the feet of the wax-works, drops the end of it in a work-box 
upon the table. 

Arthur. " Don't you girls think you ought to be 
wearing your wreaths, and holding your baskets and 
your flags, and your posies? They'd make your 
wax-works look handsomer." 

Caroline. " So they will." 

Girls get the flowers, flags and baskets, taking the 
wreaths from their hats and putting them on their 
heads. 

Anna. " You must take the key and pretend 
to wind up the machinery. What song shall we 
sing?" 

Lucy. ." i The Merry Month of May,' is per- 
fectly splendid." 

Caroline. "I wonder if we know the words 
Let's try." 

[They sing. Tune, The Poacher 's Song, or any lively tune."] 

We come, we come with dance and song, 



May-Day in Doors. 107 

With hearts and voices gay ; 

We come, we come, a happy throng ; 

For now it is beautiful May. 

We've lingered by the brookside, 

To find the fairest flowers ; 
We've rambled through the meadows wide, 

These sunny, sunny hours. 

[All move around.] 

Chorus. Oh, we'll dance and sing around the ring, 
With footsteps light and gay, 
Oh, we'll dance and sing around the ring, 
For now it is beautiful May. 

Kate. " That's a good song. Now then ! All 
ready ! Stand in your places. ( Gets the door key?) 
Arms folded, Tommy. When I've done winding up 
Arthur must begin to take aim, Ned begin to scowl 
and to hold up his sword, and you girls begin to 
sing and dance round. Can't you hold your hands 
high, so the flowers and flags will show ? ( Girls 
raise their hands.) That's prettier. Now all stand 
as still as real wax-works till the machinery is 
wound up, then begin." 

Kate winds up machinery, the actors remaining quiet. 
When the winding stops they begin to perform their 
parts and while the dancers are still singing, the curtain 
falls. 



1 08 Entertainments 

(Additional.) 

MAY BASKETS. 

It is a pretty custom, that of hanging baskets of flow- 
ers upm the handles of doors, 011 the evening of May-day. 
They may be nothing more than tiny white paper boxes filled 
with violets. They are simple gifts, but may give much 
pleasure. If they have a bit of poetry added, so much the 
better. Here is something for one : 

May the fates propitious be, 
While I this basket hang for thee ; 
Freighted only with May-flowers 
Born of sunshine, wind and showers ; 
Gathered from the sunniest nooks 
On the hill sides, by the brooks, 
Where they bloomed in beauty bright 
Just for me — and you — this night. 
And I know you will not mind 
If no bon-bons here you find, 
As you search with curious eye, 
Where only these fair blossoms lie. 
And now my simple lay is sung, 
My basket on the door is hung, 
I know you for a spry young man, 
But catch, oh, catch me if you can ! 



THE FAIRY QUpN 

A MAY-DAY CANTATA. 



DRAMATIS PERSONS. 



Wanda, a beggar, afterward'; Fairy Queeh ; Lucie, her 
attendant ; Alice,* May Queen ; Mabel, Nellie, 
Francis, Maud, Laura, and other children, fairies. 

Long ribbons of different colors should be attached to 
the May-pole. After the curtain rises a chord should be 
struck as a signal for each child to grasp the end of one of 
these ribbons. They stand facing the audience. A second 
chord, and they separate into alternate couples, faci7ig each 
other. Then as the music begins they skip around the 
pole in two lines, moving in opposite directions, as in the 
" Ladies Chain," in dancing. They wave the ribbons un- 
der and over, as they move, alternately lifting it above the 
heads of those they meet, and alternately stooping and 
passing under. On Wanda's first appearance she wears an 
old waterproof over her fairy costume ; this can be twitched 
into the wings, by unseen lines with fish-hooks attached. 
109 



no Entertainments. 

If colored fire flashes upon the stage at this instant and the 
fairies run in briskly and group prettily, the effect will be 
very pretty. A simple square dance should be introduced 
during the sirtging of Air No. 2, " Fairies join us hand in 
hand" the two queens, with arms entwined, standing in 
the centre. 

Scene 1 st. Children dancing round May-pole : Alice 
in centre, uncrowned. Children dance and sing: 

Welcome, welcome genial May, 

Stay your passing feet ; 
Listen to the children's song, 

Rising full and sweet. 

Birds are singing in the trees, 
There, too, sunbeams play ; 

And the wild flowers of the spring, 
Kiss thy feet, sweet May. 

In the fragrant meadows green, 

Hear the melody 
That the rippling brooklet sings 
All for love of thee. 

We will laugh and dance and sing, 

'Tis the children's day ; 
And we'll crown with blossoms sweet 

Alice — Queen of May. 

Recitation. 

Laura. Alice dear, you know that we 

All agreed that she should be, 

Who excelled in everything, 

Crowned our May-Queen in the spring. 

Playmates, who has gentlest been ? 
Chil. Alice — she shall be our Queen. 



The Fairy Queen. in 

Recitation. 

LAURA. Sweetest heart and most unselfish, 

When the Autumn days fell darkly, 

'Twas the sunshine of thy presence 

Brought the spring-time back again. 

Upon thee, who all excellest, 

In thy gentleness and goodness, 

Do we place this flowery crown. 
Chil. Fairer queen was never known. 

SONG [Tune, Upidee^ 

Whate'er Queen Alice of us asks, 

We'll obey, we'll obey; 
If she gives us all hard tasks, 

Yet we must obey. 
O'er our hearts long may she reign, 
No harsh word shall cause her pain, 
But punished shall that subject be, 

Who refuses to obey ; 
But punished shall that Subject be 

Who will not obey. s 

Recitation. 

Alice. Oh playmates dear, I have not been 
And am not worthy to be Queen ! 
I've done my best ; yet every day, 
In something, I have gone astray : 
But since your love has so crowned me, 
A loving Queen I'll try to be. 

[Thunder afar off^\ 

Hark ! a tempest gathers near, 

Thunders' muttering I hear. [Thunder.'] 



ii2 Entertainments. 

Come with merry roundelay, 
Let's drive the coming storm away. 

[All dance and sing.] 

Rain, rain, jewel the grain, 

Hide in the hearts of the violets blue ; 

Or when the rainbow bridge shineth again, 
Pass back to heaven, like uplifted dew. 

Enter Wanda and Lucie R. Children gather round them, 

Mabel. Who are these, that hither stray ? 

Nellie. Why they're beggars come to play 

Maud, See their ragged clothing too ! 

Fran. With no sign of hat or shoe ! 

Laura. Come, let's drive them quick away. 

[They hustle Wanda and Lucie.] 

Alice. Shame, my subjects ! Children, stay ! 

[Children seem afraid '.] 

Alice {to W. &> L.). 

Fear them not, for they are kind ; . 
I am their queen, and you shall find 
They'll reach you forth a loving hand 
To join our play, if I command ; 
Come with me, my throne is yonder ; 
Tell us why you hither wander. 

Recitation. 

WANDA. Weary and way-worn, 

We've journeyed on, 

Fatherless, motherless, 



Tke Fairy Queen, 113 

Dear ones all gone, 
Poor little waifs are we, 

Drifting on life's great sea, 
Oh,, heed our piteous plea, 

And sad heart's moan. 

Food we have eaten none, 

Throughout the day — 
Our childhood's home we've left, 

Far, far away. 
You whom* the years but bless 

With added happiness, 
Feel for our sore distress 

We humbly pray. 

Let us a moment rest 

Then we will go, 
Though whither 

We do not know ; 
Our eyes are dim with tears, 

Our hearts are filled with fears, 
Hope's promise disappears 

In clouds of woe. 

[They hesitate and turn as if to go!\ 

Alice. Stay, this is a day of pleasure ! 
You shall share its joy complete, 
You shall watch our dances' measure, 
While you rest your weary feet. 
On the turf, so green and fragrant, 
§eat yourselves and have no fear ; 
Listen to our words of comfort, 
Love and tenderness are here. 
Playmates, subjects who have been 






ii4 Entertainments. 

Faithful to your little Queen, 
Here are children, poor, distressed, 
With no parents' dear love blessed ; 
Shall we turn them from our door ? 
Are they not the Saviour's poor ? 
Would your Queen deserve to wear 
This bright crown of flowers fair, 
If she gave from out her store 
Nothing — to the Saviour's poor ? 

All shout" good Queen Alice? and gather around beg 
gars with sympathy. 

Alice {to beggars). 

Rest here while we sing a song, 
It will not be very long. 

[Song, during which Wanda and Lucie disappear^ 
Tune, Kind words can never die. 

Kind deeds can never die ; 

Nurtured in Heaven, 
They live eternally, 

Like mercy given. 
So let us always be 
Kind, and give willingly, 
Whilst we to Heaven yield 
Praise evermore. 

[Heavy thunder : children startled^ 

ALICE. Haste, oh haste, the storm comes on ! 

Where are the beggers ? they are gone — 

The thunder's moan and the falling rain 

Have frightened them. Haste,we may find them again. 



The Fairy Queen, 115 

Exeunt omnes singing; song dies away, with low 
thunder; and scene closes. 

Oh, we have been a-Maying 

And crowned our Queen of May ! 

And with a deed of kindness 
We've closed the happy day. 

[Scene 2d. Enter Alice.] 
Recitation. 

The wrathful storm has spent itself at .length, 

And now o'er Earth has fallen a hush of peace. 

Here in the forest lonely, where shadows of the night lie 

darkly brooding, 
Alone and lost, upon a pathless way, I grope bewildered. 

Mother and father dear 

My voice ye cannot hear — 
I'm weary of the way,. 

Here let me kneel and pray. [Kneels.'] 

[Wanda and Lucie enter."] 

Father, listen to my prayer ! 

Thou who marks't the sparrow's fall, 
Thou whose love is everywhere, 

Wilt thou hear my feeble call ? 

I am but a little child ; 

Wilt thou bid thine angels keep 
Close beside me all the night, 

When I lay me down to sleep ? 

Father — thou art very high, 
But thy tender face I see ; 



1 1 6 Entertainments, 

Thou cans't bend to me so low ; 
Lord, I sleep in peace and Thee. [Sleeps.] 

Recitation. 

Wanda {coming forward). 

Hush ! very softly tread, for see, she sleeps. 

How sweet and peaceful is her quiet rest ! 

Such dreams as have the pure in heart are hers, 

And of the night's alarms she feareth naught. 
Wanda {to Alice). 

Wake, gentle maiden ! we will guide 

You safely down the mountain side ; 

Your companions are not sleeping, 

All are searching, all are weeping, 

Each one blames herself the most, 

That her loving Queen is lost. [Alice wakes.] 

Wanda strikes with staff; her dress falls back disclos- 
ing Fairy Queen. Enter fairies on all sides. Form circle 
round Alice and sing, Air No. i. 

Merry mountain nymphs are we ; 

Down below's our fairy glen ; 
This place is our magic mountain, 

Far away from haunts of men. 
When the moonlight's silvery arrows 

Through the forest leaves are seen, 
There we meet for song and dancing, 

With our gentle Fairy Queen. 
You shall hear the fairy music, 

You shall hear the echoes ring 



The' Fairy Queen. 117 

With the fairies happy laughter, 
And the melodies they sing. 

\_Join hands and dance, singing Air No. 2.] 

Fairies join us hand in hand, 

Nymphs from sea, and elves from land, 

Quickly form the magic ring, 

Gaily dance, and softly sing 

Praises of our Fairy Queen. 

Hair like twilight's golden sheen, 
Marble brow and hazel een, 
Coral lips from which between 
Glimpses as of pearl are seen — 
Such is she our Fairy Queen. 

Form divine, and light as air, 
Velvet cheek — how soft and fair ! 
Blushing to the gentle pink 
Of dawn on heights of Neversink — - 
Who is like our Fairy Queen ! 

So guileless is her loving heart, 
So gentle, free from every art, 
So pure, unstained by taint of earth, 
Her spirit claims a heavenly birth ; 
And only those, the pure and good, 
Can wander through this fairy wood, 
Fearless of our Fairy Queen. 

Then fairies join us hand in hand, 
Nymphs and sprites from sea and land ; 
Quickly form the magic ring, 
Gaily dance, and softly sing 
Of our lovely Fairy Queen. 



n8 . Entertainments. 

Wanda {speaking earnestly). 

Dear Alice, thou hast won the love of fairies ! 
Within their hearts a shrine to you" is builded, 
Decked with forget-me-nots and rosemary, 
And tended sacredly forevermore. 
Thou hast been tried by us and not found wanting, 
And all good fairies' wishes follow thee. 
When* I, their Queen, in garb of wretchedness, 
Came to thy May-day festival unasked, 
With tale most piteous of wandering long 

In hunger and distress 

Thou gave'st to me and my poor companion, 
With tears that deepened all thine eyes' soft blue, 
The gracious sympathy of thy young heart. 
Thou gavest food and drink and tender care, 
And so hath won a fairy recompense. 
Safely unto thy home, with music sweet, 
And to thy parents' arms, shalt thou be borne ; 
Thy playmates, too, who near and far have sought 

thee 
With sorrowing hearts, our messenger shall call. 
Go, Lucie, bring the children quickly hither, 
And fairy sprites shall lead them, singing, home. 

[Children enter and gather around Alice.] 

Fairy hour is almost done, 

Let us speed, then, on our way, 

Home we'll bear the gentle one, 
Little Alice, Queen of May. 

[Exeunt omnes, singing "Home Again." Curtain falls 
}o music vj 



FOUR ODES FOR DECORATION 
DAY. 

4 

[By Kate Cameron.] 

I. 

The young, the noble and the brave, 
Who fill for us the soldier's grave, 
Who will have earned the hero's fame, 
To-day our fond remembrance claim. 

A loving tribute now we bring, 
The fair and fragrant flowers of spring, 
And while we deck each hallowed mound, 
We feel we tread on holy ground. 

They are not dead, these martyred ones, 
Our sires, our brothers, and our sons ; 
Within our grateful hearts they live, 
The truest life that God can give. 

Our country claims them for her own ; 
Their deeds of valor oft are shown, 
And coming years will serve to make 
This day more bright for their dear sake ! 

II. 

Flowers from the garden and wildwood, 

Eager we pluck from the stem ; 
Fair as our brave in their childhood, 

Early to perish like them. 
119 



120 Entertainments. 

Over their dear graves we scatter 

Blossoms of every hue, 
Soon will they fade, but what matter ? 

Tears can refresh them like dew. 

Oh ! for our sires and our brothers, 

Oh ! for our husbands and sons, 
Oh \ for the widows and mothers, 

Oh ! for the desolate ones. 
Thus for the dead and the living 

Mourn we, as hither we bring 
Treasures of memory's giving, 

Blossoms of beautiful spring. 

Fondly the tribute we render ! 

Hallow this day through the years, 
Fraught with such thoughts deep and tender, 

Christened with holiest tears ; 
Tho' names from marble may vanish, 

Graves of our soldiers shall stand - 
Altars whence time can not banish 

Thanks of our purified land ! 

III. 

Again we bring an offring meet, 
The buds and flowers fair and sweet, 
Our Hero's praises to repeat, 

Again we tread on holy ground, 
Again we deck each hallowed mound, 
Wherein a soldier's dust is found. 

Our voices speak with loud acclaim 
Each well-remembered, honored name, 
Deep-graven on the roll of Fame. 



Four Odes for Decoration Day, 121 

And as with grateful pride we view 

Our chosen colors, Red, White, and Blue, 

Our loyal faith would we renew. 

A fitting emblem is the Red 

Of precious blood that has been shed, 

When noble hearts for Freedom bled. 

The White forever shall endure 
A type of all that's true and ptfre, 
Our country's honor, staunch and sure. 

The Blue reminds us of the skies 
That smile upon our high emprise, 
And bid us ever upward rise. 

Baptised within War's deep Red Sea, 
Henceforth the Country of the Free 
Must worthy of her Martyrs be ! 

IV. 
OUR HEROES. 

Again we sing our simple lay, 

And bring our floral token ; 
Forever on this hallowed day, 

Shall heroes' praise be spoken, 
And not till time shall pass away, 

This sacred trust be broken. 

The names so bright on Fame's fair leaf, 

We in our hearts are keeping ; 
With loyal pride, not selfish grief, 

We leave them to their sleeping ; 
They sowed the seed — the golden sheaf, 

Was left for others' reaping. 



122 Entertainments. 

The harvest of their deeds is ours, 

Well won in fight and foray, 
And as we crown their graves with flowers, 

We tell the oft-told story ; 
Thus year by year, through sun and shower, 

We keep undimmed their glory ! 

The following poem by the same author, though not writ- 
ten for Decoration Day, may.be used by omitting the fifth 
stanza. As it stands it is beautifully appropriate for a 
memorial exercise on the death of any member of the Sab- 
bath-school. 

THE DEPARTED. 

[By Kate Cameron.] 

Down the dim vista of the vanished years 

I gaze sad-hearted, 
And see, through gathering mists of blinding tears, 

Loved ones departed. 

Brows on which mem'ry's radiance is cast 

In fadeless splendor, 
And voices that whisper of the past 

In accents tender ; 

Hands that have laid confidingly in mine, 

As loth to sever ; 
Eyes that upon my darkened pathway shine 

No more, forever ; 

Hearts on which mine was ever wont to lean 

With trust unshaken, 
While not a single cloud could flow between, 

Doubt to awaken. 



Four Odes for Decoration Day. 123 

And dearer than all others to my sight, 

Sweet childish graces ; — 
How dark the world grew when death's solemn night 

Hid those dear faces ! 

I sometimes wonder I can ever smile, 

Or speak with gladness ; 
But God is good, and present joys beguile 

The past of sadness. 

And the fair future stretches far away, 

From our weak vision, 
And thinking of its sunny days I stray 

In fields Elysian. 

Yet earthly futures are but dark and dim 

Beside that Heaven. 
To which God hath, to all that follow Him, 

Free entrance given. 

And then I know my loved ones are at rest 

Mid beauty vernal, 
And ne'er can sorrow, care nor sin molest 

Their peace eternal. 

And I will wipe away my selfish tears ; 

Death cannot sever 
The ties that bind our souls thro' mortal years, 

They last forever ! 

UNKNOWN. 

[By Dr. Francis O. Ticknor of Georgia.] 

The world is bright with other bloom ; 
Shall the sweet summer shed 



124 Entertainments. 

Its living- radiance o'er the tomb 
That shrouds the doubly dead ? 

UNKNOWN ! Beneath our Father's face 

The star-lit hillocks lie ; 
Another rosebud ! lest His grace 

Forget us when we die ! " 

DECORATION DAY. 

[Words by H. S. Thompson. Music "Good Night," from " Martha. "] 

Once again a floral offering 

To the memory of the brave ! 
Sweetest flowers of earth's fair bosom 

Bring we to the hero's grave. 

Tho' the flowers may droop and perish, 

Patriot deeds shall never die ; 
By a grateful country cherished, 

Time and wreck they may defy. 

Thus as long as our loved banner 
In the breeze of Heaven shall wave, 

Year by year will we bring garlands, 
To bedeck the hero's grave. 

FORGIVENESS. 

[By Whittier.] 

With faces darkened in the battle flame, 
With banners faded from their early prid£, 
Through winti^ and sun, and showers of bleaching 

rain, 
And red in all their garments doubly dyed ; 
With many a wound upon them, many a stain, 



Four Odes for Decoration Day. 125 

With steps that never faltered, thus they came. 

Through water and through fire 

They came to Thee, and not through these alone — 

They came to Thee by blood ! Thou didst require 

A living sacrifice, and like Thine Own, 

The life Thou gavest us Thou didst desire. 

And all are ready for thee ! Lo, the knife 

And cloven wood were waiting. 

They, too, were ready ! In the battle strife, 

Or by the lonely fireside, unto Thee 

We offered love for love, and life for life ; 

And as they came to Thee, a sound of war 

Ran after them from distant fields ; the jar 

Of shield and sword, and battle bow ; a cry, 

Confined and harsh, that rolled to " Victory," 

And seemed upon the darkening heavens to cease ; 

For as they neared the city, morning broke, 

And all around its lofty ramparts woke 

One word of greeting, flooding all the ear, 

And all the heart, with solemn music, clear, 

As of a trumpet talking with us — " Peace." 

— Adapted by Dora GreenwelL 



MRS. JUNE'S PROSPECTUS. 

[From the " Little Corporal " — A good Recitation for any Spring Festival.] 

Mrs. June is ready for school, 

Presents her kind regard, 
And for her measures and rule 

Presents the following 
Card 
To Parents and Friends. 

Mrs. June, 

Of the firm of Summer and Sun, 
Announces the opening of her school 

(Established in the year one). 
An unlimited number received ; . 

There is nothing at all to pay, 
All that is asked is a merry heart, 

And time enough to be gay. 
The Junior class will bring, 

In lieu of all supplies, 
Eight little fingers and two little thumbs, 

For the making of pretty sand-pies. 
The Senior class, a mouth 

For strawberries and cream ; 
A nose apiece for a rose apiece, 

And a tendency to dream. 
The lectures are thus arranged : 

Professor Cherry Tree 
Will lecture to the climbing class, 

Terms of instruction — free ; 

126 



Mrs. June's Prospectus. 127 

Professor Dr. Forest Spring 

Will take the class in drink ; 
And the class in titillation, 

Sage Mr. Bobolink ; 
Young Mr. Ox-Eye Daisy- 
Will demonstrate each day 
On " botany," on " native plants," 

And the " properties of hay ; " 
Miss Nature, the class in fun 

(A charming class to teach) ; 
And the swinging class, and the birdsnest class, 

Miss Hickory and Miss Beech ; 
And the sleepy class at night, 

And the dinner class at noon, 
And the fat and laugh and roses class, 

They fall to Mrs. June ; 
And she hopes her little friends 

Will be punctual as the sun, 
For the term, alas ! is very short, 

And she wants them every one. 



FOURTH OF JULY EXERCISE. 



Fourth of July can be celebrated in no better way tha?i by 
an Old Folks' Concert. The Centennial is in so recent a past 
that no hints as to costume or furniture, are necessary. Al- 
most every family has dragged from the garret some heir- 
loom in the shape of tall, narrow-backed chairs, spinning 
wheels, old china, a limp brocade that on great grandmother' s 
wedding-day stood stiff and lustrous — 

" In teacup-times of hood and hoop, 
Or when the patch was worn." 

Some one can probably be found who will teach the Min- 
uet, or Sir Roger de Coverly, to a set of young dancers, ahd 
we must have an oldfashio?ied choir to give us the dear old 
fugue tunes such as: Sherburne, Lennox, Russia,New Jeru- 
salem, Bridgewater, Anthem for Easter, Complaint, David's 
Lamentation, Majesty, Lnvitation, Exhortation, China, 
Grafton, Nbrthfeld, JQenmark, Ode on Science, and St. 
Martin's, all of which are found in " Ancient Harmony 
Revised." The?i, there are the sentimental songs, a few of 
which are mentioned in the following poem, which might 
itself be sung with perfect appropriateness : 
128 v 



Fourth of J-uly Exercise. 129 

OLD FASHIONED SONGS. 

[By Kate Cameron.] 

Her fingers swept across the keys, 

And swift as birds they flew ; 
The music floated on the breeze 

Our hearts went with it, too. 

We heard again the simple lays, 

Each sweet, familiar tune, 
That won our ardent love and praise, 

When life was in its June. 

Once more we saw on flower and tree, 

The morning sunlight shine ; 
Our hearts were joyous, blithe and free 
" In days of Auld Lang Syne." 

And while we shed a silent tear 

For happy hours gone by, 
We met a friend so true and dear 

Still " Coming thro' the Rye." 

That vanished dream was in our thoughts, 

We breathed a once loved name, 
When with a tender sadness fraught, 
** Last Rose of Summer" came. 

And then we found the refuge blest, 

Of hearts that widely roam, 
And owned the dearest and the best 

Of all was " Home, Sweet Home. 



130 Entertainments. 

Some other old-fashioned favorites are Annie Laurie, Ivy 
Green, The Mistletoe Bough, The Scotchman's Wallet, The 
Rose that all are Praising, The Old Kirkyard, My Old 
Kentucky Home, Days of Absence, Oh no 1 we never men- 
tion her, Slowly wears the day, love, /won't be a Nun, Oh 
what can the matter be 7 Nid, nid, nod din, Auld Robin 
Gray, Dark-eyed one, dark-eyed one, Bonny Doon, and 
My Heart's in the Highlands. There is scope for unnum- 
bered tableaux to accompany the readifig or singing of such 
selections as Zekle's Courtship, and the following, which 
admits of richer costumes : 

In teacup-times ! " The style of dress 
Would suit your beauty, I confess ; 

Belinda-like the patch you'd wear ; 

I picture you with powdered hair— 
You'd make a charming Shepherdess ! 

And I no doubt — could well express 
Sir Plume's complete conceitedness — 
Could poise a clouded cane with care 
" In teacup-times ! " 

The parts would fit precisely — yes ; 
We should achieve a huge success ; 
You should disdain, and I despair, 
With quite the true Augustan air ; 
But * * * could I love you more, or less. 
In teacup-times ! 
« — Austin Dobson, in Blackwood's Magazine. 



PRO G R A M M E. 

(This programme, which was used at Marquette, Mich., should be printed 
on coarse brown paper in imitation of time-stained documents ; and if practicable, 
the old-style " s " should be used by the printer.) 



ALYSTE 

of ye olden tyme Sacred Hymns, and likewise 

Worldlie Songs which shall be 

sung by ye 

ASSOCIATION SINGIN SKEWL, 

at ye great 

PUBLICK CONCERTE, 

to be attended at ye Big Meetin Room in ye large 

stone Bank Building in ye 

CITYE OF MARQUETTE, MICH., 

on Friday, ye Eighth Day of ye Month of December. N. S., 

in ye year of our Lord MDCCCLXXVI. 



Ye doors shall be open at earlie candle lighte, and ye musick will commence at 
8 by ye Timist's watch. 

Ye men and ye women will be suffered to sit together. N. B. — This refers to 
married couples ; ye young men and ye maidens must occupy separate chairs. 

Ye price to enter in at ye greate door is Four Yorke Shillings, or ye lesser door 
Two Yorke Shillings. Tickets may be bought of Hezekiah Holon Stafford, or 
at any of ye stores or taverns who may have them to sell. 



132 Entertainments. 

A LYSTE OF YE SINGINGE CLASS, 

to witte : 
Timeist — Hodijah Syno Tompersin; 

WOMEU SIUGEHS. 

Hepzibah Von Drum. 

Peace and Hope Slimmer. 

Mariam Jordon (ye seamstress). 
Comefort Careful Broadcast 

(she that was a Goodenough), 

Experience Berry. 

Lovegood Christy (ye widow). 
Seraphine Burden. 

Timothy Tibballs. 
Zedekiah Perkins. 
Obed Hagadow. 

Jacob Shepard (ye parish sexton). 
Miraculous Ordinary. 

Soloman Bragg (ye pedagogue). 
Absalom Beeder, 

Also a good many other discreet persons and good singers who did not wish their 
names to appear in print. 

Harpsichorder — Edessa Emmer McCumley. 
Ye Class will sing ye following Tunes, to witte : 

(The names in the programme should be recognizable through their disguise, as 
belonging to the singers.) 



Fourth of July Exercise. 133 

YE FIRSTE PARTE. 

1. Odeon Science. — All ye men and women singers. 

Swan. 

2. School-Boy Days. — II. of ye men singers. 

Thompson. 

3. Invitation. — Ye whole companie. 

Kimball. 

4. Auld Lang Syne.— IV. of ye men singers. 

Burns. 

5. Ruth and Naomi. — II. of ye women singers. 

Glover. 

6. Star Spangled Banner. — Ye whole companie. 

National. 

7. The Nightingales Sisters— Seraphina Burden. 

Everet. 

8. A Worldlye Instrumental Peece. — Ye Harpsi- 

chorder. Lysbay. 

9. Marseilles Hymn. — All ye men and women singers. 

French Air. 

YE SECOND PARTE. 

1. Hallelujah Chorus — Ye whole companie. 

Messiah. 

2. Hail Columbia.— Ye town fiddler 

National. 

3. Sound the Loud Timbrel. — Eponine Perkins 

and the Skewl. Avidon. 

4. Emigrant's Lament.— Ye Timeist. 

Dumpster. 

5. Psalm Tune St. Martins.— All ye singers. 

6. Quaker Courtship. — Hezekiah Sunlight and 

Careful Charity. Parry. 

7. Salve Regina. — Bobodil Downright. 

Dudley Buck. 

8. Sherburne. — Ye whole companie, 

Read. 

9. A Worldlye and Parilous Peece. — II. of ye 

men and II. of ye women singers. Bliss. 
10. America.— All ye men and women singers. 

National. 



[34 Entertainments. 



Ye following remarks will help ye audience. 

N. B. — Forasmuch as ye children are sometimes troublesome, ye mothers are 
requested to bring peppermint to soothe them, and to place them under the seats 
if so be they cry obstrepolously. 

N. B. — Ye tithing man, Philistine Ferguson, who is of mighty strength, will 
summarilie chastise and send home all ye small boys who break ye chairs or other- 
wise disturb ye meetinge. 

N. B. — All ye discreete women who f ryed cakes to eat, are requested to eat 
them between ye first and second partes. 

N. B. — Ye Beadle will hand up apples and nosegays, and all such tokens of 
approbation to ye singers. 

N. B. At ye singin in the last peece ye whole assemblie is expected to stand 
and help singe ye last tune withe their whole heart. 



Printed at ye Printing Shoppe of Len Crary, in-ye big City of Marquette, Mick. 



Fourth of July Exercise. 135 

A very comical performance suitable to the day is arranged 
in this way. The stage represents a New England kitchen. 
It contains a number of persons in ancient costumes, each one 
occupied in some domestic industry, llieir activity keeps 
pace with the tune, Yankee Doodle, which is played very 
slowly at first, and is gradually accelerated, till at last they 
are churning, washing, ironing, spinning, rocking baby, 
quilting, chopping mince-meat, paring apples, knitting, saw- 
ing wood, huski?ig corn, etc., in a jolly frolic. 

Recitations suitable for Fourth of July may be found in 
the St. Nicholas for 18 7 6, pages 553 and 582; also One 
Hundred Years, page 103/ and in Wide Awake for July 
1878. 



Thanksgiving Exercise. 



PROGRAMME. 

i. Singing. — Let us with a gladsome mind. * 

2. Singing. — When spring unlocks the flowers. . . . Heber. 

3. The Lesson of the Wheat. — For five boys (From Wide Awake.) 

Mrs. M. B. C. Slade. 

4. Thanksgiving Hymn.— For little children. Can a little child 

like me ? Mary Mapes Dodge. 

5. Recitation. 

6. Scriptural Responsive Exercise. — A Tha ksgiving Dinner 

of Bible Texts 

7. Music. 

8. Reading.— The coming of Thanksgiving and the season of 

Pumpkin Pie. (Chap. 8 and 9 of " Being a Boy.") 

Charles Dudley Warner. 

9. Recitation.— The Pumpkin J . G. Whittier. 



EXPLANATION OF PROGRAMME. 

The first scholar holds and shows some blades of wheat, 
the second a handful of wheat-stalks, the third an ear of 
wheat in blossom, the fourth some full, ripe ears. Teacher 
reads Mark. 4 : 28. 
136 



Thanksgiving Exercise. 137 

THE LESSON OF THE WHEAT. 

[By Mrs. M. B. C. Slade, in Wide Awake.] 

1ST Scholar. First the blade : 
Out in the field I found, 
Shooting above the ground, 
Just down beside my feet, 
These two small blades of wheat. 

In Concert. 

And don't you surely know, 
When these begin to grow, 
It is because the seed was planted down below ? 

2ND Scholar. " So is the kingdom of God, as if a man 
should cast seed into the ground, and the seed should spring 
and grow up, he knoweth not how." 

I found beside my walks 

These higher stems and stalks ; 

The sap within supplied 

Long leaves on either side. 

In Concert. 

And don't you surely know, 

As fresh and green they grow, 

It is because the seed was planted down below ? 

3RD Scholar. " Then the ear : " 
I found and bring you here, 
This young and tender ear ; 
Each perfect grain beneath 
Its nice, protecting sheath. 

In Concert. 

And don't you surely know, 



138 Entertainments. 

As strong and full they grow, 

It is because the seed was planted down below ? 

4TH Scholar. '• After that the full corn in the ear," 
I bring the full ripe wheat ; 
Dew, rain, and summer heat, 
Whether we rose or slept, 
O'er them their care have kept. 

In Concert. 

And don't you surely know, 

Though these have made them grow, 

It is because the seed was planted down below ? 

5TH Scholar. " The seed is the word of God. He that 
soweth good seed is the Son of God." 

Lord, in our tender youth, 

Sow precious seeds of truth 

Deep in these hearts of ours, 

Then send thy sun and shower. 

In Concert. 

And we shall surely know, 

When Heavenly graces grow, 

It is because the seed was planted down below ! 

4. Can be found set to music in St. Nicholas for Nov. '7 7. 

5. Recitation. See Whittier's Child Life, page 192. 

6. Scriptural Responsive Exercise. 

7. A Thanksgiving Dinner of Bible Texts may be intro- 
duced by singing the following stanza : 

In autumn a rich feast 
Thy common bounty gives 



Thanksgiving Exercise. 139 

To man, and bird, and beast, 
And everything that lives. 
Thy liberal care at morn and noon, 
And harvest moon, our lips declare. 

The Superintendent may read the bill of fare % the 
School responding with the texts. 

BILL OF FARE. 

Soup. Pottage of Wild Gourds. II. Kings 4 : 38-41. 

Shell-Fish. Oysters and clams. Deut. 33: 19. 

Fish. Broiled, with sauce. St. Luke 24 : 42. 

Birds. Quails on toast. Psalms 105 '.40. 

Birds. Pigeons. Numbers 6:10, " Two turtles or two 
young pigeons." 

Venison (stuffed). Genesis 27 : 14, 19. 

Wild Turkey. Ezekiel 17 : 23. 

Meats (roast and fried). Leviticus 7 :g. 

Waffles and Bread. Leviticus 7:12, 13. 

The Castor, i. Salt, Leviticus 2:13. 2. Vinegar, Ruth 
2: 14. 3. Oil, I. Kings 17 : 1 2.4. Catsup, I. Chron- 
icles 9 : 30. 

Vegetables. Numbers 11:5. 

Green Corn. Leviticus 2 : 14. 

Lentils. Genesis 25 : 34. 

Beans, peas, etc. II. Samuel 17 :28. 

Butter. In handsome silver butter dish. Judges 5:25. 

DESSERT. 
And honey and cheese of kine, etc. II. Samuel 17 : 29. 

Apples. The Song of Solomon 2:5. 

Grapes, pomegranates and figs. Numbers 13 : 23. 

NUTS. Genesis 43 : 11. 



140 Entertainments. 

8. Reading. From Chapters 8 and 9 of "Being a 
Boy." By Charles Dudley Warner. 

9. Recitation. 

THE PUMPKIN. 

(By J. G. Whittier.) 

Oh ! greenly and fair in the land of the sun, 
The vines of the gourd and the rich melon run, 
And the rock and the tree and the cottage enfold 
With broad leaves all greenness, and blossoms all gold, 
Like that which o'er Nineveh's prophet once grew, 
While he waited to know that his warning was true 
And longed for the storm cloud, and listened in vain 
For the rush of the whirlwind and red fire of rain. 

On the banks of the Xenil the dark Spanish maiden 
Comes up with the fruit of the tangled vine laden ; 
And the Creole of Cuba laughs out to behold 
Through orange leaves shining the broad spheres of 

gold; 
Yet with dearer delight from his home from the north, 
On the fields of his harvest the Yankee looks forth, 
Where crook-necks are circling and yellow fruit shines, 
And the sun of September melts down on his vines. 

Ah ! on Thanksgiving day, when from East and from 
West, 
From North and from South, came the pilgrim and 

guest, 
When the gray-haired New Englander sees round 
his board 
The old broken links of affection restored 
When the care-wearied man seeks his mother once more, 



Thanksgiving Exercise, 141 

And the worn mother smiles where the girl smiled 

before — 
What moistens the lip and what brightens the eye ? 
What calls back the past like the rich pumpkin pie ? 

Oh, fruit loved by boyhood ! the old days recalling, 
When wood-grapes were purpling and brown nuts 

were falling ! 
When wild, ugly faces we carved in its skin, 
Glared out through the dark with a candle within ! 
When we laughed round the corn heaps, with hearts 

all in tune, 
Our chair a broad pumpkin, our lantern the moon, 
Telling tales of the fairy who travelled like steam, 
In a pumpkin shell coach with two rats for a team, 

Then thanks for the present ! none sweeter or better 
E'er smoked from an oven or circled a platter ! 
Fairer hands never wrought at pastry more fine ; 
Brighter eyes never watched o'er its baking than thine 
And the prayer which my mouth is too full to express, 
Swells my heart that thy shadow may never grow less, 
That the days of thy lot may be lengthened below, 
And the fame of thy worth like the pumpkin-vine grow, 
And thy life be as sweet, and its last sunset sky 
Golden-tinted and fair, as thy own pumpkin pie ! 



THE SECOND PART OF 

THE PILGRIM'S PROGRESS. 

fAs Dramatized by Mrs. Geo. MacDonald.] 

A letter by the author of "An Art Student in Munich," quoted by permission 
from the Hartfort Courant. 



In the year 1850, I witnessed the celebrated "Passion Play of Ober- 
Ammergau,'' little knowing what I was about to behold, for at that time 
the far-famed performance was a mystery as yet scarcely revealed at all to the big 
world outside the little world of the Bavarian mountains. That was a never-to- 
be-forgotten experience. Thrilled by the mingled tenderness and sternness of the 
strange drama, by the guilelessness and piety of the actors, by the novel beauty 
of the whole spectacle, I wrote a description, seeking to embody the sentiment of 
that which had so profoundly and unexpectedly touched my heart. Hundreds of 
hearts responded to the words. Some hundreds, nay, I may say thousands of 
visitors from all parts of England and America, have hastened to Ammergau to 
witness the performance, and countless writers have united with one accorJ to 
spread the fame of the Bavarian Passion-Play and of the Peasant Players. My 
emotion truly had been prophetic. 

This Easter I have unexpectedly experienced, though it may be in somewhat 
minor degree, a similar emotion in witnessing — what, if not a Passion-Play, as- 
suredly may be called a " Mystery- Play." The stage was erected in the Town 
Hall of a little town in the south of England — the actors were the wife and 
children of a poet — the play was the second part of "Pilgrim's Progress," that 
lovely old allegory of the progress of the soul towards the life eternal. 

The wife of George MacDonald, the popular author, has dramatized the history 
of the Pilgrimage of Christiana and her Children, and the corps dramatique were 
the members of one large and loving family — an unique corps dramatique to enact 
an unique drama. 

Come with me in imagination to the little im- 
provised theatre," and let us take our seats waiting 
the drawing up of the curtain, where the stage is 
made beautiful and rural by banks of primroses, 
142 



Pilgrim 's Progress. 143 

whereon bloom real flowers, shining and star-like 
behind the foot-lights. The play is called 

THE PILGRIMAGE OF CHRISTIANA — A MYSTERY 
PLAY. 

As the curtain rises, we behold Christiana, the 
comely young Puritan widow, arrayed in a black 
dress, stiff white muslin cuffs, 'kerchief, and long 
white apron. She is seated beside a table, over 
which she leans with bowed head, weeping and la- 
menting. Ever and anon she exclaims, " Oh, what 
shall I do to be saved ? " Clinging around her are 
her four young children, Matthew, James, Samuel, 
and Joseph, clad all in crimson, their chubby little 
faces beautiful with the innocence of childhood ; 
quaint, withal are they, as a group of angels in 
some picture by Sandro Botticelli. Bursting into 
tears as they hear their mother's words, they cry 
aloud in their shrill, childish voices, " Oh, woe the 
day ! " Then Christiana relates to her " sweet 
babes " her portentous dream, regretting even more 
that she " sinned away their dear father, who would 
have had them all with him when he went on his 
long pilgrimage — he, who now was gone to high 
places, and well thought of, yea, high in favor, 
with his dear Lord and King." 

Even as they are thus conversing, a loud knock- 
ing is heard upon the door of the chamber, and the 
visitor being bidden "in God's name to enter," 
there steps forth a yet older angel of the Botticelli 



144 Entertainments, 

type — a messenger-youth from the King, wearing 
white raiment girded around him with an em- 
broidered sash, and his pendent sleeves of a celes- 
tial blue falling almost down to his feet. 

" Christiana," he cries, " my King will have thee 
know that He inviteth thee to come into His pres- 
ence, to His table, and here is a letter to thee from 
thy husband's King." 

Whereupon the angelic youth presents a scroll, 
inscribed with golden characters, to the awe-struck 
woman, who, kneeling, receives and unrolls the 
precious document, her children looking on with 
amazement as she reads the sweet words of invita- 
tion to the city of her Lord. 

Upon this Christiana and her children unan- 
imously elect to set forth on a pilgrimage to the 
celestial city. The children commence making up 
their little bundles, and prepare at once to start 
upon their long journey, in imitation of their father. 
Meanwhile, the news of their sudden determina- 
tion spreading abroad, three neighbors of Chris- 
tiana, Mrs. Timorous, Mrs. Bat-eyes, and Mercy, 
come to see and seek to dissuade her from so ex- 
traordinary an enterprise. Bat Mercy, the gentlest 
and youngest of the three, finally determines at 
least to give her friend and her children convoy for 
a short distance upon the way. Christiana, accom- 
panied by Mercy, arrayed in her pilgrim's cloak 
and with her staff in her hand, goes forth, singing 
softly : 



Pilgrim 's Progress. 145 

Let the Most Blessed be my guide, 

If t be His holy will ; 
Unto His gate, unto His fold, 

Up to His holy hill, 

while the four little ones, shouldering their bundles, 
join in the singing of the hymn with their silvery, 
piping voices ; and as they depart, the curtain falls. 

When again the curtain raises, the women and 
the children have already crossed the plain, and 
have just arrived in front of the " Wicket Gate." 
Before them rises at the back stage a pair of tall 
grey gates, covered over with black, scrolly iron- 
work ; on either side a weather-stained red brick 
gate-post. Trees grow around, and on one side of 
the gate is a wooden fence. On one of the doors 
is painted upon a white ground, in large old English 
letters, "Knock, and it shall be opened unto you." 
Beneath these words is a smaller door cut in the 
larger one — this is the " wicket gate." 

" Knock, and it shall be opened unto you," read 
the little children, and forthwith beseech vehement- 
ly their mother to boldly knock at the " wicket " — 
"yea, and continue knocking, sweet mother, until 
the porter openeth unto thee." Christiana, in fear 
and trembling, knocks repeatedly, until at length 
the little door flying back, reveals in its dark, nar- 
row opening the face and figure of the angelic 
Youth-Messenger from the King. Christiana, mak- 
ing a low obeisance, says, " Let not our Lord be 
offended with his handmaidens, for that we have 



146 ' Entertainments. 

knocked at His princely gate," and the angel 
stretches forth his hand, saying, " Suffer little chil- 
dren to come unto me," and draws within the gate 
the mother and her children. Then, shutting it 
again, leaves Mercy standing without, in humility 
and grief — such bitter grief that she swoons and 
falls prostrated upon the earth before the very 
threshold of the gate. 

" But," as says Bunyan, " when Christiana had 
gotten admittance for herself and her boys, she be- 
gan to make intercession for Mercy." Ere long 
the little gate once more flies open, and the loving 
hand of the angel draws upwards and inwards the 
fainting maiden, whilst Christiana and her children 
watch anxiously the reception of their fellow Pil- 
grim, as they stand secure behind the wooden en- 
closure. Then, all again united within the " wicket 
gate," singing and giving God praises, the Pilgrims 
are seen passing onward to further experiences of 
the Christian life, as the curtain falls. 

Now commences the third act ; perhaps, as re- 
gards scenic effect, the most beautiful of all. The 
Pilgrims are here received into the calm resting 
place of the House of Prudence and her daughters, 
Piety and Charity ; and thankful they are here for 
a season of refreshing to repose themselves after 
their dire encounter with the lions on the King's 
Highway. Much converse is there held regarding 
their past dangers, as the ladies are seated together 
in the fair chamber assigned to the Pilgrims ; the 



Pilgrim 's Progress. 147 

children with much simplicity adding their little 
details to the description of the terrific encounter 
with the lions by the way, and of Greatheart's 
valiant defense of the Pilgrims. Beautiful draper- 
ies and beautiful blossoming plants had been sent 

from B ( truly an earthly " Home Beautiful ") 

to adorn this similitude of a spiritual u mansion " — 
here represented with true artistic feeling upon the 
little stage. Pieces of " art needle work, with 
pomegranate, orange, and sun-flower, " designs 
wrought upon fair linen, were tastefully displayed, 
whilst lovely and fragrant exotics, standing in pots, 
made a background to the whole chamber. 

Prudence, the lady of the mansion, was repre- 
sented by Mrs. MacDonald, the mother, in fact, of 
the whole little drama, since the actors and actresses 
were her children, and the piece was her own 
adaptation of the old tale of Bunyan's. She was 
arrayed in a semi-classical robe of a creamy coffee- 
color, bound round the waist by a scarlet girdle, 
into which was stuck a bunch of u fair daffodils, " 
her head being covered by a long and matronly 
white veil. Piety and Charity, her daughters, wore 
robes of a similar color and fashion, but no veils ; 
their black hair was knotted up in a classic style, 
and bound about the head with fillets of scarlet. 
Fresh flowers were also stuck within their scarlet 
girdles. The whole mise en scene was rich in color 
in the extreme, yet full of a quaint simplicity. 
The groups of the Pilgrim women in their black, 



148 Entertainments. 

blue and white garments, with the three elder 
children in their crimson dresses, seated at the 
women's feet, whilst the youngest child, of some 
seven years, lay in Christiana's lap with his 
little arms around her neck, fed the eyes of the 
spectators with harmony of color and graceful 
forms ; the mind being fed likewise by the beauti- 
ful words of the sweet old parable, as they fell in 
silvery accents from the gentle lips of the women 
and the "babes" — " perfecting praise ; " and, ex- 
quisite as at all times is Bunyan's strange and pain- 
ful imagery, it seemed, as one thus looked and lis- 
tened, to kindle with yet even greater beauty and 
significance. 

Whilst in the house of Prudence, the maiden 
Mercy, ever occupied with her charitable labors of 
garment-making for the poor, receives an elegant 
and unexpected visitor, a Mr. Brisk by name, " a 
man of some breeding," indeed, a very fine gen- 
tleman of the quasi-Puritan school, who, admiring 
Mercy's pretty, modest face, and having at the same 
time "an eye to the main chance," since he believes 
her to be a good housewife and an earner of much 
money by her labors, offers Mercy his hand, pro- 
posing that thus as Pilgrims they shall walk to- 
gether through life. But Mercy having taken 
counsel with the maidens of the home, Charity and 
Piety, learns from them that though he pretends 
to be religious this Mr. Brisk is, they fear, " a 
stranger to the power of that which is good." 



Pilgrim' 's Progress. 149 

Therefore Mercy, when Mr. Brisk continues to pay 
his compliments to her, offering her all manner of 
service, tests his love and his nature by requesting 
him as a favor to carry for her to a poor widow in 
the next lane a bundle of her needlework, a loaf 
and a patchwork quilt — a commission which Mr. 
Brisk finds extremely embarrassing, finally declines, 
thereupon feeling himself injured and insulted 
by Mercy and takes his leave of her abruptly, 
with many graceful but rather sulky congees. 
This trial of Brisk is an addition by Mrs. Mac- 
Donald to the old text, but is in entire harmony 
with the spirit of Bunyan, and told well on the 
stage, especially with the refined comic acting of 
the artist who embodies the character. The char- 
acter of Brisk was as a little touch of comedy in 
the midst of so much of sentiment and pathos, and 
made a wholesome pause and refreshment. 

But not even in the Home of Prudence may 
Christian Pilgrims find rest for long. The curtain 
falls upon them as they are about once more to set 
forth on their weary way. 

When.it again rises we find them arrived in the 
valley of Humiliation, " the best and most useful 
piece of ground in all these parts." And here, as 
the Pilgrims are conversing together, they espy 
" a boy feeding his father's sheep." The sheep are 
not made visible upon the stage, but you see the 
pretty shepherd-lad slowly walking along, dressed 
in his embroidered blue smock-frock, his hat 



150 E?itertainments. 

wreathed with roses, and a tall crook in his hand. 
Hark, too, how sweetly the boy sings ! The Pil- 
grim women and the children, together with their 
guardian, Greatheart — half man, half angel — clad 
in his shimmering coat of mail, with his large 
shield emblazoned with its big crimson heart hang- 
ing at his back — and his two-handed sword in his 
hand — all stop and listen to the song of the Shep- 
herd. " Hark ! what he says," exclaims Great- 
heart : — 

" He that is down, need fear no fall ; 
He that is low, no pride ; 
He that is humble, ever shall 
Have God to be his guide." 

It is even sweet as the warbling of the " merle 
and the mavis," this song of the shepherd boy in 
the green vale of Humilit}\ " 

" I will dare to say that this boy lives a merry 
life, and wears more of that herb called Heartsease 
in his bosom than'he that is clad in silk and velvet," 
says Greatheart. And now the shepherd-lad dis- 
tributes to the Pilgrims, small and great, little slips 
of his sweet herb of blessing. 

But alas ! Not even in this calm green valley of 
Humility may Pilgrims long abide. Neither may 
any who hasten towards the Celestial city find much 
peace upon the road. They must hasten onward. 
They must pass the spot where Christian had his 
dread encounter with Apolyon, and where the 



Pilgrim's Tr ogress. 151 

ground remains still muddy, blood-stained and be- 
trampled from the conflict. And now, defended 
by Greatheart, they enter the valley of the Shadow 
of Death. Terrible shadowy sights of great hor- 
ror are here beheld in the distance by the Pilgrim 
women ; especially by Christiana, in whose coun- 
tenance as in a mirror the spectator sees reflected 
the shadow of the anguish of death, as she gazes, 
paralyzed with terror, by the, to him, invisible 
horror. 

This rendering of the terrors of the valley was 
specially poetic, and tragic in a high degree. The 
children and Mercy catch the infection of the ter- 
ror, as they gaze on Christiana, and cling affrighted 
around her as she, held and supported by the val- 
iant knight, Greatheart, appears ready to fall into 
the swoon of death. " Now I see what my poor 
husband went through," murmurs Christiana, as 
in a dream. "Many have spoken of it, but none 
can tell what the Valley of the Shadow of Death 
should mean, until they come unto it themselves." 

Whilst yet in the Valley of the Shadow, strength- 
ened ever by the valiant words and strong power of 
Greatheart, and saying ever holy words, the curtain 
falls upon the pilgrim band. 

When next the curtain rises, the Pilgrims have 
arrived in the blessed land of Beulah. It is a re- 
gion of mountain and wide valley. Near at hand, 
not yet visible to the spectator, you are told runs 
the river that divides the land from the Celestial 



IS 2 Entertainments. 

city of Eternal Rest. Here, lying upon the ground 
asleep, is found by the children a very aged man 
clad in Pilgrim's weeds, and with a long snow-white 
beard. He is Mr. Honesty ; and aroused from his 
sleep by Greatheart he joins the pilgrim band. The 
four little boys run about merrily, gathering flowers 
and binding them into nosegays — and the talk of 
all, great and small, is of the gladness of this 
happy land, where troops of Pilgrims daily come 
to await their passage over the river to the Celes- 
tial city, and where, ever and anon, " a legion of 
shining ones " arrives, by which it is known that 
more Pilgrims are upon the road ; for the " shining 
ones " assemble to comfort the Pilgrims after their 
long sorrows on the road. Here two children come 
forth from the King's garden, which is near at 
hand, with bundles of camphire and spikenard, 
saffron, calamus and cinnamon, and every manner 
of sweet spice in their little hands, to give* to the 
weary Pilgrims. 

Here, as the Pilgrims converse regarding these 
joyous matters, behold once more the messenger of 
the King — the youthful angel who has ever and 
anon presented himself to Christiana on the road. 
He stands once more with them. He gives to each 
a branch from some sweet spice tree growing in 
the garden of his King. From the King to Chris- 
tiana he brings a special letter of good tidings, bid- 
ding her within ten days to stand within the presence 
of her Lord ; and, in sign that he is a true messen- 



Pilgrim's Progress. 153 

ger, he gives to her a small silver arrow, "sharpened 
with love, that should easily enter into her heart 
p - 1 which should work so effectually there that by 
the appointed time she must be gone." Having 
thus received these tokens of the love of her hus- 
band's King, Christiana, filled with a solemn joy, 
calls unto her boys, and, tenderly blessing them, 
confides them as little lambs into the hands of the 
Shepherd Boy, who with his hat crowned with roses 
and his long shepherd's crook once more appears 
amidst the Pilgrims. He, lovingly and carefully, 
leads them away with him ; all saying that " the 
sheep know their own shepherd and follow him." 
Then Mercy, the ever faithful friend, the old man 
Honesty, and valiant Greatheart, give Christiana 
convoy towards the banks of the unseen myste- 
rious river. She, chanting solemnly a holy hymn 
as she slowly departs, with upraised, joyful counte- 
nance, and arms folded over her breast, you. see 
no more, but hear the joyous ringing of the bells 
of the Celestial City to welcome her safe arrival 
in the place of Eternal Rest. 

Again comes the King's Messenger to summon 
venerable Mr. Honesty to his King. And yet 
again he comes, bearing in his angel hands to 
Mercy, as a sure token of the love of her King, a 
shattered " golden bowl " and a loosened •" silver 
cord." And Mercy, solemnly chanting words of 
praise, supported by the strong arm of Greatheart, 
passes slowly from the land of Beulah towards the 



154 Entertainments, 

shores of the invisible river, and is seen of us no 
more. 

Now alone is left in the land of Beulah, of all 
our group of friends, Greatheart, the shining war- 
rior, half mortal, half angel. The curtain falls — 
this time not to rise again — as Greatheart stands 
fixedly gazing upon the retreating figure of happy 
Mercy, with the bright light from the Celestial 
City flashing upon him, and making his coat of 
mail shine like a great star of light, and with the 
cross-shaped handle of his great sword held up 
aloft before him, as symbol of Divine valor and 
Divine redemption. 

When the curtain dropped I questioned if there 
was a dry eye to be found among the thickly- 
packed audience. " Ah ! " said a voice beside me, 
" only they know how true, how beautiful this is, 
who themselves are making the pilgrimage and 
recognize each place of experience, of joy and of 
sorrow ! " The voice came from a tender soul, her- 
self just passed through the Valley of the Shadow 
— her face was wet with tears, but smiles lay be- 
neath them. 



A CURE FOR TRAMPS 



A SHORT TEMPERANCE DRAMA. 



BY LIZZIE -W- CZHLA-IiyEIFlsriE-Z-. 



DRAMATIS PERSONS. 

Prof. Hardhacker; Charlie, an artist ; Plug Ugly, 
from Baltimore; Jew Pedler; Aunt Perpetua; 
Posy Pink • Lace Pedler. 

Scene. Interior of Kitchen. Posy Pink scouring a 
silver tankard {new bright tin quart cup). 

Posy Pink. " I never saw such a sight of old sil- 
ver as Aunt Perpetua has ; it's just a weariness of 
the flesh to keep it bright. There's that pepper- 
box that came over in the Mayflower, and this 
tankard that Paul Revere made ; there is a story 
connected with it which I wish Aunt Perpetua 
i55 



156 Entertainments. 

would tell me. Oh ! here she comes. If she looks 
good-natured I mean to ask her about it." 

[Enter Aunt Perpetua, holding a bottle.] 

Aunt Perpetua. " Here, Posy Pink, I intend to 
open a bottle of currant wine to-day ; it is Brother 
Hardhacker's birthday, and I mean to drink the 
poor soul's health, wherever he may be." 

Posy Pink. " Tell me about Uncle Hardhacker, 
Aunt Perpetua, while I clean the lamps." 

Aunt Perpetua. " Tramps ! What's that you 
said about Tramps ? How many have been here 
this morning?" 

Posy Pink. " Oh, dear ! how deaf you are, Aunty. 
I didn't say anything about tramps ; to be sure they 
have been rather numerous. {Loudly.) Only five, 
Aunty. " 

Aunt Perpetua. " Twenty-five ! We must get a 
dog ; we must positively get a dog, or else a man. 
If Brother Hardhacker were only here, I should 
like to see a tramp show his face on the premises." 

[A loud knock?[ 

Posy Pink. " Here's one now, Aunty ; help me 
hide the silver (thrusts the tankard under the table 
and turns a pail over it). 

[Enter Lace Pedler carrying a basket?^ 

LacePedler. " Good mornin', mum. Would any 
of the ladies be afther wishin' to purchase some 
foine lace? — (Opens basket and displays wares.) 



A Cure for Tramps. 157 

Foine Limerick point, mum ; all made by hand. 
There's the work of a fortnight, mum, in a yard of 
it. It would make a lovely parroor for the young 
leddy, mum, give her quite the look of comin' from 
Paris ; and if she's thinkin' of getting married, 
sure what would thrim a wedding dress more ille- 
gant intoirely." 

Aunt Perpetua. " What does the creature say ? " 

Lace Pedler. " Oh ! is it deaf the ould leddy is ? 
(Screams.) Would ye be afther wanting some lace 
for your Sunday cap, mum ? " 

Aunt Perpetua. " She wants some catnip ? Well, 
she does look kinder measly. Run up to the back 
garret Posy Pink ; pity not to let a poor creature 
have a sprig of catnip when she's sick." (Exit 
Posy Pink.) 

Lace Pedler (eyeing the bottle of wine). "Sure 

it's powerful wake I feel " (drops into a chair and 

'faints. Aunt Perpetua rushes to her with the bottle). 

Aunt Perpetua. " The Bible says, 4 Give strong 
drink to him that is ready to perish.' (The woman 
comes out of her faint, seizes the bottle, and drinks 
greedily.) 

Lace Pedler. "May the saints presarve yees. 
Sure an I feel stronger now ; sure an it's Biddy 
O'Hollogan as will show her grathitude for the 
same. Good day to yees, mum." (Exit.) 

Aunt Perpetua (ruefully regarding the bottle). 
" All that currant wine gone. Well, I must go 
down cellar and get another bottle." (Exit.) 



158 Entertainments. 

[Enter Posy Pink, with a bunch of fresh herds."] 

Posy Pink. "I couldn't find anything but 
fennel, and spearmint, and sweet marjoram, and 
dill in the garret, so I ran down to the garden and 
picked some fresh catnip ; but when I got to the 
door, the woman was by the gate making some 
sort of a mark on the stone outside. I took a 
look at it as soon as she was gone : it seemed to 
have been made with yellow chalk, an irregular 
triangle with the point downward. Now I won- 
der what that means ? " 

[Enter Aunt Perpetua, with second bottled] 

Aunt Perpetua. " Set the table, Posy Pink, 
and we'll drink your Uncle Hardhacker's health." 

[Sits in great rocking chair a?id takes out knitting. Posy 
Pink busies herself setting the table. Replaces tankard.] 

Posy Pink. " Yes, Aunty, and please tell me 
while I do it, how Uncle Hardhacker came to go 
away." 

Aunt Perpetua. " It was a long time ago, dear, 
a long time ago ; before your own dear mother 
died and you came to live with your old Aunty. 
We lived up at the Corners then, Brother Hard- 
hacker and I and Charlie." 

Posy Pink. " Who was Charlie ? " 

Aunt Perpetua. Your cousin, my dear, Brother 
Hardhacker's only child, a dear boy but a trifle 
wild and wilful, but maybe if his mother had lived 



A Cure for Tramps. * 159 

he would have been different. I tried to do a 
mother's duty by him but he got dissipated, and 
people began to call him Champagne Charlie. 
When his father heard that he came down on him 
dreadful; and Charlie, he had a good share of 
the Hardhacker spirit, and he answered back that 
if his father would give up his cider, he was willing 
to put his name on the same temperance pledge. 
Of course Brother Hardhacker would not stand 
such impudence as that, and he turned him out of 
doors, and I've never seen him from that day to 
tins." 

Posy Pink. " Poor fellow ! and don't you know 
what became of him, Aunty? " 

Aunt Perpetua. " No dear. But I pitied his 
father most ; he went about just as usual for a 
year, but I could see his heart was broken. Then 
he took his hammer and chisel, he was Professor 
of Geology at the Academy, and started on a pedes- 
trian tour for South America. He said he should 
keep straight on down through Mexico and Cen- 
tral America, and then he should follow the Andes 
straight down until he walked off into the ocean, 
for he didn't know as there was anything on earth 
that could turn him round again. Three years 
ago, he sent a box of specimens back to the Acad- 
emy ; and since then we haven't heard from him." 

Posy Pink. " Poor man ! and to think that one 
of the Hardhackers may be wandering about like 
any common tramp !" 



160 » Entertainments. 

Aunt Perpetua. " What's that about tramps ? 
If there's another coming, lock the door, do." 

Posy Pink. " No Aunty, but supper's already 
now but making the tea. If you will attend to that 
I'll run down to the post-office after the mail, and be 
back before supper." 

[ She ties on her bonnet and exit at the right. Aunt 
Perpetua takes up teapot and goes out at the left. Enter 
Plug Ugly, at the right.'] 

Plug Ugly. (Lays down bundle and stick in chair, 
tiptoes to left and looks out?) " Nobody at home 
but the old lady; table all set as if they were ex- 
pecting me. Thank you, ma'am,- since you insist, 
I will. (Sits down and eats voraciously.*) We're 
a glorious band of brothers, we tramps. I never 
should have thought of rinding an eye-opener in 
such a hard-shell Baptist-looking little cottage 
as this, if some wandering brother or sister before 
me, hadn't tipped me the signal on the stone by 
the gate. (Empties the currant wine.) Well, that 
tomb stone didn't lie, the spirit's as good as the epi- 
taph. Here comes the old lady. I wonder if she 
made this wine — if she did, I must offer her my 
compliments." 

[Enter Aunt Perpetua.] 

Aunt Perpetua. " My eyes, if there ain't a dirty 
tramp just a-helping himself ! What's your name? 
What are you doing there ? " 



A Cure for Tramps. 161 

Plug Ugly. " I'm a-eating my dinner, ma'am ; I 
don't believe I rightly know what my name is, 
but they call me a Plug Ugly from Baltimore." 

Aunt Perpetua. " Did you say you didn't want 
any more? Well, I shouldn't think you would! 
You've eaten up a whole chicken pie, and drank a 
whole bottle of my precious currant wine." 

Plug Ugly. " Yes, ma'am, and since I've finished 
the liquor, you can't surely have any need for this 
ere mug, so I'll just relieve you of it." (Rises and 
takes tankard.') 

Aunt Perpetua. " No you won't, you dreadful 
man ! Give me back my tankard ! (Screams.) Mur- 
der ! Thieves! " 

[Loud knocking at the door.] 

Plug Ugly. " Well, I didn't know you had neigh- 
bors so handy. (Drops tankard.) I'll just go this 
way, so's not to skeer 'em." 

[Exit at the left. Eiiter Posy Pink, at the right.] 

Aunt Perpetua. " Why, Posy Pink, was that 
you?" 

Posy Pink. Yes, I saw him through the win- 
dow, so I thumped away with a birch. I thought 
that would frighten him more than seeing me." 

Aunt Perpetua. " Oh, dear ! I wish I knew 
some cure for tramps. I shall have to look for a 
man or a dog. (Site at table.) I don't see as he's 



1 6 2 Entertainments. 

left anything but the tankard, and we can't eat 
that. Did you get anything at the post-office, 
Posy Pink ? " 

Posy Pink. " Yes, ma'am, a letter from Paris." 

Aunt Perpetua. (Takes it. ,) "Who could write 
to me from Paris." (Beads.) i Dear Aunt Pet.' 
Why, nobody ever called me so but Charlie, and 
it's from Charlie, too. * Dear Aunt Pet, I am com- 
ing home.' Well, that's good news." 

Posy Pink, " Yes, indeed, he'll help keep off the 
tramps." 

Aunt Perpetua. " Hush, child ; let me read. 
4 Dear Aunt Pet, I'm coming home. I have tried 
to make reparation for my bad conduct. I came 
over here with the artist, Mr. Dupinceau ; worked 
for him just as a servant, but he finally decided that 
I had some talent and has tried to make me an artist. 
I am coming back to paint your portrait and to set 
up a studio at the Corners. If I find I can't make 
my living that way, I am not above following the 
plow on the old farm, if you will give me the 
chance. — ' The dear child, and he wants to paint 
my portrait too ; think of that ! 

Posy Pink. " And he's an artist; how nice ! Is 
that all, Aunty ? " 

Aunt Perpetua. " No, dear ; there is some more, 
but these glasses are so blurry I can't read. Take 
it, child, and read it for me." 

Posy Pink. (Reads.) " c I have some good news 
for you. I have heard from father. A gentleman 



A Cure for IVamps. 163 

who has recently come to Paris from Brazil, says 
that he has discovered a silver mine and would 
have made all our fortunes if he had not told the 
owner of the land all about it. Wasn't that just 
like father though ? I wrote to him at once ; have 
heard from him, and he too, is coming home. He 
said that he was willing now to give up his cider, 
and his only wish was to see our names on the same 
temperance pledge. So have one ready for us to 
sign. We ought to be with you in about two 
weeks from this time.' " 

Aunt Perpetua. " And the letter is dated just 
a fortnight ago — we may expect them any moment. 
Let me see, I've got a pledge that I've saved for 
many years for this glac> hour: [Takes paper from 
drawer and reads.) 

" A pledge we make 
No wine to take ; 
Nor brandy red 
That turns the head ; 
No frenzy rum 
That ruins home ; 
Nor brewer's beer 
For that we fear ; 
And cider too 
Will never do ; — 
So here we pledge perpetual hate 
To all that can intoxicate." 

Posy Pink. "Aunty, there's a foreign-looking 
man with blue spectacles and a long black beard, 



164 Entertainments. 

coming up the walk. He has a valise. I do be- 
lieve — " 

[A loud knock is heard. Aunt Perpetua rushes to 
the door.] 

Aunt Perpetua. " Yes, it is my long lost broth- 
er. (Enters Jew Pedler.) Oh, Hardhacker, Hard- 
hacker, have you come home at last ! " 

Posy Pink. (Bustles forward with arm chair?) 
Sit right down, Uncle ; how tired you must be ! Did 
you walk all the way ? " 

Jew Pedler. " Veil, dot ish bleasant. No, I did 
not valk dot land across. I sailed dose seas ober 
mit a ferry-poat." 

Aunt Perpetua. "Here is the pledge, Hard- 
hacker, here is the pledge; put your name right 
down ! " 

Jew Pedler. " Vot ish dot paper ? " 

Posy Pink. " Why, Uncle, how funny you talk. 
I suppose you have caught the accent from the na- 
tives." 

Aunt Perpetua. "It is the temperance pledge, 
Hardhacker." 

Jew Pedler. " Temberance ! I ish no tember- 
ance. You is no temberance neider. Vot says dot 
shtone by de gate ? Dare ish some bery good vine 
in dish house, and one very fool vomans vot give it 
away." 

Aunt Perpetua. "What did you say, Hard- 
hacker ? " 



A Cure for Tramps. 165 

Posy Pink. " Oh Aunty, Aunty ! it isn't Uncle 
at all. He's another dreadful tramp !" 

Jew Pedler. " Tramp, I ish no tramp ! I sells 
de ferry fine spectacles, but I no sells dem here. 
(Takes his valise.') You ish one stingy voman. 
You keeps de good currant wine, and you gife de 
poor travelling man noding but the temberance 
papers. I tells de breple about you." (Leaves in a 
rage.) 

Aunt Perpetua. "I don't understand at all." 

Posy Pink. (Looking off.) " O Aunty, he has 
stooped down and rubbed off that funny writing 
on the stone, and he's writing something else." 

Aunt Perpetua. " I'm glad of it. I believe 
that pesky writing had something to do with the 
tramps. To think that I should have taken that 
dreadful man for poor dear Brother Hardhacker !" 

Posy Pink. " Aunty, there's a ferocious looking 
scissors grinder coming up the lane." 

Aunt Perpetua. " If I only had a dog or a man." 

Posy Pink. " He looks desperate enough to mur- 
der us all. He is reading the writing on the stone. 
Why, he's going back again! What can be the 
reason." 

Aunt Perpetua. " Go out and see what the ped- 
ler wrote." 

Posy Pink. "I couldn't understand if I did; 
besides, there's a gipsy woman coming ; let us wait 
and see what she does." 

Aunt Perpetua. "She's read it and is going 



1 66 E?itertainments. 

away. ( Calls.') I say, you woman, come here. 

Woman (outside). No, no ; I no want any Tem- 
perance." 

Posy Pink. "That's it. We've found it at 
last; the cure for Tramps is the Temperance 
Pledge ! " 

Aunt Perpetua (falling into a chair). " Do you 
suppose that currant wine of mine was what 
brought them? Well, I never! " . 

Posy Pink. " There's another one looking at the 
inscription. It doesn't seem to frighten him ; here 
he comes." 

[Enter the Professor.] 

Professor. " Good afternoon, madam. I have 
been examining a very curious formation at your 
gate. It apparently consists of a block of old red 
sandstone, but furrowed and striated in a most cu- 
rious manner by lines of scaglia or chalk. I have 
examined these lines carefully, with my microscope, 
and find a few minute fossil organic remains. I am 
interested in ascertaining whether these striations 
are to be attributed to some geologic age, Or wheth- 
er they are the work of primeval man ; say of the 
stone age, or are even analogous to the cuneiform 
found" — 

Posy Pink. " Oh, Aunty ! I'm sure this time 
it's a lunatic. It will be of no use to show him the 
pledge ; do send him away." 

Aunt Perpetua. "Leave the house instantly! 



A Cure for Tramps. 167 

I have within that drawer a cure for tramps, never 
known to fail." 

[Exit Professor, at the right. Posy Pink hastily doses 
door. Enter Charlie, at the left; has artisfs paint box, 
etc. , strapped on shoulders^ 

Posy Pink " Goodness me, if here isn't an or- 
gan grinder. I suppose he came the back way and 
didn't see the writing on the stone." 

Aunt Perpetua. " What do you mean by sneak- 
ing in at the back door, when I'm busy at the front ? 
Never mind, I've got a cure for tramps here. Do 
you see this ? " ( Thrusts the pledge in his face,') 

Charlie. "With the greatest of pleasure." 
(Signs his name and presents the paper to Aunt Per- 
petual) " Why, Aunty, didn't you know me ? " 

Aunt Perpetua. " You don't say ! It isn't 
Charlie?" 

Charlie. " But it is." 

[All laugh.] 

Posy Pink. " And I thought you were an organ 
grinder ! " 

Charlie. " Oh, that's my artist's kit. Has father 
come yet, Aunty ? I heard at the town that he 
had passed through ? 

Posy Pink. " I wonder now if that lunatic that 
was here last, and wanted to know about the big 
stone — " 

Charlie. "Where?" 



1 68 Entertainments, 

Posy Pink. " There by the gate, and there he 
is still." 

Charlie. " Why that's father." (Rushes to the 
door.") 

Aunt Perpetua. " What did he say ? " 

[Enter Charlie and Professor, hand in hand.] 

" My boys, both of my boys ! " 

Professor. " Give me the pledge, sister." (Signs 
his name.') " You see I expected to find you at 
the Corners. I didn't know you had moved since 
I left, and seeing the inscription, put you entirely 
out of my head. The man who owned the land, 
was honest enough to give me a royalty on the 
silver mine, and I've come back to share it with 
you." 

Aunt Perpetua. " What does he say about mine ? 
I'm sure all that's mine is his." 

Posy Pink. " And we won't need to get a dog, 
now that we have two men in the house ! " 

Charlie. " And better still the precious " 

All. " Cure for Tramps." 



Sunday Evening Exercises. 



BIT lEVA-ZCsTHiTIE ?&. STEELE. 

Note. — In the following programmes the intention has been to develop a 
single truth by short readings and recitations, that as many as possible might 
take part, the interest upon such occasions being generally proportioned to the 
number of pupils engaged. The programmes are submitted as suggestive, and 
admit of considerable variation. Their chief use is that they may be adopted 
without the labor of searching and combining material, at least until the possibili- 
ties of each to locality are determined, when better ones can easily be substituted. 
The abundance of choice literature for children, continually dropping from the 
pfess, will enable those who give the subject attention to furnish fresh material 
constantly for similar occasions. 



I.— COURAGE IN DOING RIGHT. 



PROGRAMME. 

i, Music. Dare to do right. 

2. School. Recite in concert. Prov. 20: ir. 

3. Reading. Short story. A Great Admiral. 

4. Reading. The Biggest not the Bravest. Youth's Companion, Aug. 8, 187S. 

5. Recitation. Prov. 29 : 23. 

6. Recitation. Prov. 10:9. 

7. Recitation. What the quail says. Youth's Companion. 

8. Reading. Following the Crowd. Children's Sermons, y. G. Merrill. 

9. Music. O do not be discouraged for Jesus is your friend. 

10. Recitation. The Right must win. Hymns of Ages, 1st series, p. 39. 
169 



170 Entertainments. 



11. Recitation, i. Peter, 4 : 19. 

12. Reading. My friend, Col. Backus. St. Nich., May 1877. 

13. Recitation, i Peter 3 : 17. 

14. Music. Don't you go, Tommy ; or, Have courage, my boy, to say No. 

15. Recitation. Honest and True. Youth's Companion, Apr. 5th, 1877. 

16. Recitation. Prov. 28 : 6 

17. Recitation. Prov. 12:22. 

18. Recitation. Doing God's Will. Hymns of Ages, 1st series, p. 45. 

19. Recitation. Prov. 5:21. 

20. Reading. Abraham Lincoln. Youth's Companion, Apr. 5, 1877. 

21. Recitation. For seven boys in succession. 1st boy, Rev. 2 : 7. 

2d boy, Rev. 2: n. 
3d boy, Rev. 2 : 17. 
4th boy, Rev. 2 : 26 — 28. 
5th boy, Rev. 3 : 5. 
6th boy, Rev. 3 : 12. 
7th boy, Rev. 3:21. 

22. Music. My soul be on thy guard. 



SUNDAY EVENING EXERCISES. 



TO TEACH COUKAGE IN DOING RIGHT. 
i. Music. Dare to do right. 

2. School. In concert. 

" Even a child is known by his doings, whether his work be 
pure, and whether it be right." — Prov. 22 : 11. 

3. Reading. 

A GREAT ADMIRAL. 

What boy has not read about the brave Ad- 
miral Farragut? The old hero of the seas has 
gone to his rest. But before he died (as the 
Scholar's Companion tells us) he thus spoke of 
his own career to a friend while sitting on the por- 
tico of a hotel at Long Branch : 

" Would you like to know how I was enabled to 
serve my country? It was all owing to a resolu- 
tion I had formed when I was ten years of age, 
My father was sent to New Orleans with the little 
navy we had, to look after the treason of Burr. I 
accompanied him as a cabin-boy. I had some 
171 



172 Entertainments. 

qualities that I thought made a man of me. I 
could -swear like an old salt, could drink a stiff 
glass of grog as if I had doubled Cape Horn, and 
could smoke like a locomotive. I was great at 
cards, and was fond of gambling in every shape. 
At the close of dinner one day my father turned 
everybody out of the cabin, locked the door, and 
said to me, 4 David, what do you mean to be ? ' ' I 
mean to follow the sea ! ' ' Follow the sea ! Yes ; 
be a poor miserable, drunken sailor before the mast, 
kicked and cuffed about the world and die in some 
fever-hospital in some foreign clime.' ' No,' I said. 
'I'll tread the quarter-deck and command as you 
do.' ' No, David ; no boy ever trod the quarter- 
deck with such principles as you have and such 
habits as you exhibit. You'll have to change your 
whole course of life if you ever become a man.' 
My father left me and went on deck. I was 
stunned by the rebuke and overwhelmed with mor- 
tification. 'A poor, miserable, drunken sailor be- 
fore the mast, kicked and cuffed about the world 
and to die in some fever-hospital ! That's my fate, 
is it ? I'll change my life, and change it at once ! I 
will never utter another oath, never drink another 
drop of intoxicating liquors, never gamble.' And, 
as God is my witness, I have kept these three vows 
to this hour. Shortly after, I became a Christian ; 
that act settled my temporal, as it settled my moral 
destiny." 



Sunday Evening Exercises. 1 73 

4. Reading. — The Biggest not the Bravest. From 
Youth's Companion, Aug. 4. 1878. 

5. Recitation. In concert. 

" A man's pride shall bring him low : but honor shall up- 
hold the humble in spirit." Prov. 29 : 23. 

6. Recitation. In concert. 

"Who can say, I have made my heart, I am pure from 
sin?" Prov. 10: 9. 

7. Recitation. 

WHAT THE QUAIL SAYS. 

Whistles the quail from the covert, 
Whistles with all his might 
High and shrill day after day ; 
Children, tell me, what does he say ? 
Gim — (the little one, bold and bright 
Sure that he understands aright) — 
" He says, ' Bob White ! Bob White ! ' " 

Calls the quail from the cornfield 
Thick with its stubble set ; 
Misty rain-clouds floating by 
Hide the blue of the August sky ; 
" What does he call now, loud and plain ? " 
Gold Locks — " That is a sign of rain ! 
He calls, ' More wet ! more wet ! ' " 

Pipes the quail from the fencetop 
Perched there full in sight ; 
Quaint and trim, with quick bright eye, 
Almost too round and plump to fly, 
Whistling, calling, piping clear ; 
" What do / think he says ? My dear, 
He says ' Do right ! do right ! ' " 



174 Entertainments, 

8. Reading. From Children's Sermons. By Rev. J. 
G. Merrill. 

FOLLOWING THE CROWD. 

" For the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jero- 
boam which he did ; they departed not from them." 

— i Kings 17: 22. 

How easy it is to do wrong with the crowd? 
And first, children are apt to do what they see 
others doing. In the neighborhood where I live 
the boys are collecting postage stamps; they are 
trying to get one of each kind that has been made 
in all the world, and these stamps a're as precious 
to them as money ; they think about them the first 
thing in the morning, and the last thing at nighty 
and I hear them talking about Germany and Eng- 
land, and all foreign countries which have stamps ; 
and I like it ; and the only reason I speak of it is 
to show how natural it is for one boy to do as the 
otJiers do. 

The same is true of girls, also. One week they 
are rolling hoops ; the next are making earrings of 
violets ; the next they are all doing something else. 

But there is another thing to be seen in the life 
of children quite like the account in the text. 
Generally children follow one or two who are 
leaders. The children of Israel acted all alike, for 
they all did what the} r saw Jeroboam do. 

Human nature is much like sheep nature in this 
thing. A farmer once told me that he was driving 



Sunday Evening Exercises. 175 

a flock of sheep from Illinois to Kansas, and came 
to a river which he must cross. The man who 
owned the ferry-boat asked too great a price to 
take the sheep over, so he took a little lamb that 
belonged to a mother sheep which was a leader 
among them all, and carried it across the river in 
a boat. Of course the lamb cried out, the mother 
heard it, and swam across, and the whole flock fol- 
lowed her. And I thought as he told me what he 
did, how often it is the case that children, like 
sheep, do what their leaders do ; and there are 
always leaders among boys and girls. I could go 
to almost any of your school-teachers, and they 
could tell me which boy or girl was leader in the 
room to which they belonged. Some children are 
made to be leaders : most children to follow others. 
But there is another thing to be learned from 
our text : that it is easy to follow a leader with a 
crowd into trouble and wrong. Jeroboam had 
done a very wicked thing; had made an idol to 
take the place of God, and the crowd of the peo- 
ple worshipped his idol. It is too bad that it is 
true, but it is a fact that it is much easier to get a 
crowd to do wrong than it is to do right, especially 
if you do as the crowd does. If a leader in school 
begins to whisper and be rude, do not the scholars 
catch that quicker than they do to take off their 
hats and be gentlemen because a leader does it ? 
It is the other way with angels of course, but so 
long as you are boys and girls, you must remember 



176 Entertainments. 

that there is anger of doing wrong if you do as 
the crowd does; and if any of you are going to 
do what you see others do, I am afraid you will 
end in failure. 

And this leads me to say, as the last lesson, and 
the one I want you to remember the best : If the 
crowd, goes wrong, and follows a bad leader, dare 
to be alone. I do not find this in my text because 
all the people did as Jeroboam did. But this text 
is to be used as a caution, not as a guide. Just as 
if you were going along on the street some dark 
night, and should see here, just before you, several 
who had gotten into trouble because the water had 
washed away the road, you would be careful to 
keep out of that way, unless you should go there 
to keep others out; so this verse was intended to 
teach you and me that although all the people do 
wrong, it is no reason why you and I should. 

When they catch apes in South America, a man 
goes under the trees where the apes are and washes 
his hands ; then he takes bowls filled with pitch, 
instead of water, and places them about under the 
trees; down come the apes to wash their paws, 
and soon are all caught by the long hair on their 
paws, and carried off and sold. Now, would you 
think it wise because a hundred apes had been 
caught that way, for the one hundred and first to 
get caught in the same way? Perhaps an ape 
could not help it ; but you are boys and girls, and 
if all whom you know do what is wrong and mean 



Sunday Evening Exercises. 177 

you should and can do right. God's book says: 
" Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil." 

9. Music. O do not be discouraged, for ■ Jesus is your 
friend. 

10. Recitation. From Hymns of Ages, p. 34. 

THE RIGHT MUST WIN. 

Oh, it is hard to work for God, 
To rise and take his part 
Upon the battle-field of earth 
And not sometimes lose heart ! 

He hides himself so wondrously 
As though there were no God ; 
He is least seen when all the powers 
Of ill are most abroad : 

Or, he deserts us at the hour, 
The fight is all but lost, 
And seems to leave us to ourselves 
Just when we need him most. 

It is not so, but so it looks, 

And we lose courage then, 

And doubts will come if God hath kept 

His promises to men. 

Workman of God ! O lose not heart 
But learn what God is like, 
And in the • darkest battle-field 
Thou shalt know where to strike. 

O bless'd is he to whom is given 
The instinct that can tell, 



178 Entertainments, 

That God is on the field, when He 
Is most invisible ! 

And bless'd is he who can divine 
Where real right doth lie, 
And dares to take the side that seems 
Wrong to man's blindfold eye ! 

For right is right, since God is God ; 

And right the day must win : 

To doubt would be disloyalty, 

To falter would be sin ! Faber. 



11. Recitation. In concert. 

" Wherefore, let them that suffer according to the will of 
God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well-doing, 
as unto a faithful Creator. 1 Peter 4 : 19. 

12. Reading. From St. Nicholas, May, 1877. My 
frietid, Colonel Backus : A talk with big boys, by J. G. 

Holland. 

This is most excellent ; we only omit giving it in full because of its length. 
St. Nicholas is, however, accessible to all and the piece should on no account be 
omitted from the programme. 



13. Recitation. In concert* 

" For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for 
well doing, than for evil doing," 1 Peter 3 : 17. 

14. Music. Don't you go, Tommy ; or, Have courage, 
my boy, to say No. ■ 



Sunday Evening Exercises. 179 

15. Recitation. Erom YoutWs Companion, Apl. 2, '77. 

HONEST AND TRUE. 

Not many can stand in the sunlight, 
'Neath skies ever arching and blue, 
The children of fame and of fortune : 
But all can be honest and true. 

To inherit the kingdom of beauty, 
May not be for me nor for you ; 
It is much to be born in the purple, 
But 'tis more to be honest and true. 

It is pleasant to stand with the highest 
If only to share in their view ; 
To be friends with the best, and the wisest ; 
But 'tis more to be honest and true. 

We may not be wise as a Solon, 
We may not be rich as a Jew, 
Or as grand as a king or a sultan : 
But let us be honest and true. 

Clara B. Heath. 

16. Recitation. In concert. 

" Better is the poor that walketh in his uprightness, than he 
that is perverse in his ways, though he be rich." Prov. 28 : 6. 

17. Recitation. In concert. 

" Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord : but they that 
deal truly are his delight." Prov. 12: 22. 



180 Entertainments. 

18. Recitation. From Hymns of Ages, ist. series p. 45. 

DOING GOD'S WILL. 

I have no cares, O, blessed will, 
For all my cares are thine, 
I live in triumph, Lord, for Thou 
Hath made thy triumphs mine. 

When obstacles and trials seem 
Like prison-walls to be, 
I do the little I can do 
And leave the rest to Thee. 

Man's weakness waiting upon God 

Its end can never miss, 

For men on earth no work can do 

~ m 

More angel-like than this. 

He always wins who sides with God, 
To him no chance is lost ; 
God's will is sweetest to him when 
It triumphs at his cost. 

Ill that he blesses is our good, 

And unblest good is ill ; 

And all is right that seems most wrong 

If it be His sweet will. Faber 

19. Recitation. In concert. 

" For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord, 
and he pondereth all his goings." Pro v. 5 : 21. 



Sunday Evening Exercises. 181 

20. Reading. From Youth's Companion, Apr. 5, '77. 

ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

Abraham Lincoln has been recognized by all the 
world as peerless among the rulers of the time in 
which he lived and died. His beginnings were of 
the poorest, his early surroundings the humblest 
and the least hopeful. Generally when a lad born 
like Lincoln, in poverty and obscurity, makes his 
mark in the world, his success can be traced di- 
rectly to the help of some one who invited him to 
his library to read, or to his office as a student, or 
to his home, encouraging his ambition, quickening 
his impulses and guiding his studies. But young 
Lincoln had no such aid as this. At his work with 
the axe and the plough, as a flat-boat man, as a 
clerk in a store, as an attorney, as a member of the 
State Legislature, as a congressman, he climbed up- 
ward step by step by his own native energy and 
integrity. As a lawyer no antagonist could shake 
the faith of juries in the uprightness of " Honest 
Abe Lincoln." In his outgoings and incomings 
among the people where he lived, no fraud, no ex- 
tortion nor immorality, cast its shadow over his 
character. In political life no yielding to the prej- 
udices of the masses, no stooping to conquer 
marred his record. 

Early in his political life he was warned by an 
intimate friend that his party were not ready to 
stand by certain truths that he had uttered, and 



1 82 Entertainments. 

that lie was endangering his own advancement. He 
replied: "I believe these sentiments are true to- 
day, and have been for six thousand years, and 
therefore I will speak them, if they not only jeop- 
ardize, but sacrifice every political prospect of my 
life. It was not long before his life, his character, 
his principles, and his frankness and fearlessness in 
teaching them became the subject of common 
talk, and everywhere the severest critics acknowl- 
edged that best of all things — 

" He lived himself the truth he taught, 
White-souled, clean-handed, pure of heart." 

On his road to Washington to be inaugurated, he 
said at Independence Hall in Philadelphia : " It 
was the Declaration of Independence which gave 
hope that in due time the weight would be lifted 
from the shoulders of all men. If this country 
cannot be saved without giving up that principle, 
I was about to say, I would rather be assassinated 
here on the spot than to surrender it. I have said 
nothing but what I am willing to live by, and, if it 
be the pleasure of Almighty God, to die by." 

In his freedom from passion and bitterness, in 
his acute sense of justice, in his courageous faith 
in the right, and his inextinguishable hatred of 
wrong, in his warm and heartfelt sympathy and 
mercy, in his coolness of judgment and unques- 
tioned uprightness of intention, in his ability to 



Sunday Evening Exercises. 183 

lift himself for his country's sake above all thoughts 
of his own personal advancement — in all these 
marked traits of character, he has had no parallel 
since the days of Washington. 

The lesson of Mr. Lincoln's life is, stand by 
the eight. In poverty or prosperity, in private 
or in public life, plant your feet upon the right. 
This is the secret of the wonderful career, the con- 
stantly increasing fame, the steady upward steps 
of him who, by his own energy and principle, 
rose from the humblest of cabins, and the obscurest 
of families, to the chief seat of honor among fifty 
millions of people. His was indeed : 

" A soul supreme, in each hard instance tried, 
Above all pain, all anger and all pride — 
The rage of power, the blast of public breath, 
The love of lucre, or the dread of death." 

Colfax. 



21. Recitation. For seven boys in turn. 

1st. "To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the 
tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. Be 
thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. 
Rev. 2 : 7, 10. 

2nd. He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second 
death. Rev. 2:11. 

3rd. To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hid- 
den manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone 
a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that 
receiveth it. Rev. 2 : 17. 

4th. And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto 



184 Entertainments, 

the end, to him will I give power over the nations : Even as I 
received of my father. And I will give him the morning 
star. Rev, 2 : 26-28. 

5th. He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in 
white raiment ; and I will not blot out his name out of the 
book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, 
and before his angels. Rev. 3:5. 

6th. Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the tem- 
ple of my God, and he shall go no more out : and I will write 
upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of 
my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of 
heaven from my God ; and / will write upon him my new 
name. Rev. 3: 12. 

7th. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in 
my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with 
my Father in his throne. Rev. 3:21. 

22. Music. My soul be on thy guard. 



Sunday Evening Exercises. 



II.— LOVE TO GOD. 

i. Music. I think when I hear that sweet story of old. 

2. Texts. In concert. Deut. 6:5; Matt. 19 : 19 ; Rom. 13 : 10. 

1 John 3:1; Jer. 31:3; Rom. 8 : 35 ; 
Rom. 8 : 38 ; Rom. 8 ; 39 5 John 15 : 30. 

Let the nine pupils who recite each a text in turn, carry to the platform letters 
of the sentence M God is Love," made of paste board and covered with red flan- 
nel, to be hung on pins driven in the wall in their proper places, upon a line 
slightly curved. 

3. Recitation. 

" Love is my teacher, He can tell 
The wonders that he learnt above, 
No other master knows so well, 
'Tis Love alone can tell of Love. 

O, then of God if thou would'st learn, 

His goodness, wisdom, glory, see; 
All human arts and knowledge spurn, 

Let Love alone thy teacher be.'' 

Madam Guyon. 

4. Recitation. Says God, 

" Who comes toward me an inch through doubting dim, 
In blazing light, I do approach a yard toward him." 

5. Text. In concert. Luke 15 : 20. 

6. Music. I am so glad that our Father in Heaven. 

7. Sermon. God's Love. Children's Sermons. J. G. Merrill. 

185 



186 Entertainments. 

8. Sentence. By a pupil. 

" God's spirit falls on me, as dewdrops on a rose, 
If I but, like a rose, to Him my heart unclose." 

Also, by a younger pupil : 

" Now, children, take your choice 
Of the food your hearts shall eat ; 
There are sourish thoughts, and brimstone thoughts, 
And thoughts all good and sweet. 

" And whatever the heart feeds on, 
Dear children, trust to me, 
Is precisely what this queer old world 
Will seem to you to be." 

9. Sentence. By another pupil. 

" Whatever thou lovest, man, that too become thou must — 
God, if thou lovest God ; dust, if thou lovest dust." 

10. Reading. The Pet Lamb. National Sunday School Teacher, Feb., 1873. 

11. Music. Tell me the old, old story. 

12. Reading. Christ and the little ones. Whittier's Child Life, p. 16. 

13. Recitation. Hymn of St. Francis Xavier. Hymns of Ages, 1st series. 

14. Music. Dear Saviour, ever at thy side. 



Sunday Evening Exercises. 



III.— LOVE TO MEN. 

i. Music. Father of Mercies, send thy grace. 

2. Tkxts. In concert, or succession. Matt. 22:37-40; 1 John, 4:21 

1 John 3 : 10 ; 1 John, 2 : 9, 10 ; 1 John, 3 ; 17 ; John 13: 31. 

3. Recitation. Abou Ben Adhem. Leigh Hunt. 

Bryant's Library of Poetry and Song, p. 582. 



4. Recitation. 



; Who counts his brother's welfare 

As sacred as his own, 
And loves, forgives, and pities, 

He serveth me alone.'' 



Whittier. 



" I note each gracious purpose, 
Each kindly word and deed; 
Are ye not all my children ? 
Shall not the Father heed ? " 

5. Music. Who is my neighbor ? Plymouth Col., 1051. 

6. Recitation. In School days. Whittier's Child Life, p. 175. 

7. Recitation. My Good for Nothing. Child Life, p. 9. Hood. 

or, Child and Mother. Child Life, p. 222. 

8. Texts. In concert. Gal. 6:2; Heb. 13 : 1 ; Gal. 5 : 13. 

9. Music. Kind words can never die. 

10. Reading. The Loving Daughter. New Stories from an Old Book. 

11. Recitation. If I were a Sunbeam; or, Which loves Mother best? 

12. Music, or Doxology. 

Note. — If some of the numbers are not readily found, in their place may be 
put the following : 

Reading. The parable ot St. Christopher. St. Nicholas, Jan., 1876; or the 
story of the Colored Soldier, who, when under fire, left the boat that was 
rounded on the bank to push it off, saying, " One of us must die for the others ; 
it may as well be me; " or both; or the story about "Skates," in Pansy's 
Picture Book. 

x8 7 



Sunday Evening Exercises. 



IV.— LOVE OF GOD SHOWN IN NATURE. 

i. Music. The spacious firmament. 

2. The following texts in order. By the school in concert, in alternation, or 

successively. Ps. 104:24; 33:6; 33:7; 74:16; 74: 17574:19; 
65 : 8; 65: 9; 147: 8; 104: 10, 11, 12, 14 ; 145: 16. 

3. Recitation. By young pupil. 

" This world is full of beauty, 
As other worlds above. 
And if we do our duty, 
It may be full of love." 

4. Sentence. By one pupil. 

He prayeth well, who loveth well, 
Both bird, and man, and beast." 
By another : 

** He prayeth best, who loveth best 
A II things both great and small ; 
For the dear God who loveth us, 
He made and loveth all." 

5. Recitation. 

" There is no tree that rears its crest, 

No fern or flower that cleaves the sod, 
No bird that sings above its nest, 

But tries to speak the name of God, 
And dies when it has done its best." 

6. Music. Hymn. Not worlds on worlds in phalanx deep. 

7. Recitation. Do you ask what the birds say? Coleridge. 

Bryant's Library of Poetry and Song, p. 45. 

8. Reading. Red Riding Hood. St. Nicholas, May, 1877. Whittier. 



Sunday Evening Exercises. 189 



9. Music. Hymn. Earth with her ten thousand flowers. 

10. Reading. Grace and her friends. Lttcy Lareom. 

Whittier's ChildLife, p. 47. 

11. Recitation. Lady Moon. Dialogue for two children, a boy and a girl, 

small pupils. Child Life, p. 142. Lord Houghton. 

12. Sermon. On the Weather. Children's Sermons. J. G- Merrill. 
13 Hymn. The Lord my pasture shall prepare. 



Sunday Evening Exercises. 



V.— INFLUENCE OF LITTLE THINGS. 

Note. — An evening may be well spent in considering the use of kind im- 
pulses and actions ; the use of improving every-day opportunities ; the certainty 
of unconscious influence; the chance of making an ordinary life of some conse- 
quence, even of power, and how God thinks of little things. 



PROGRAMME. 
^j^-rt i. 

i. Chorus. 

" Scatter smiles, bright smiles, 

As you pass on your way." 

2. Solo and Chorus. Say : what are you going to do, brother ? Gospel 

Hymns, No. 2. 

3. Recitation. What Tim did. 

4. Recitation. Somebody's mother. Harper's Weekly. 

5. Solo. Not a sparrow falleth. T. L. Gilbert. 

6. Recitation. In school days. J . G. Whittier. 

7. Recitation. Texts. 

8. Chorus. To the work, to the work ! Gospel Hymns. 

190 



Sunday Evening Exercises. 1 9 : 



1. Recitation. Insect Cares. 

2. Chorus. By Infant class. 

3. Recitation. Newsboy's Debt. 

4. Recitation. By a five-year-old. Gran'ma Al'as Does. 

5. Recitation. The Unprofitable Servant. 

6. Solo. Ninety and Nine. 

7. Recitation. Smile when ere you can. Gospel Hymns, No. 2. 

8. Reading. By a teacher. Stop her, Pard, stop No. 29! From the Chris- 

tian Union. D. T. Wright. 

9. Chorus. What shall the Harvest be ? 



If thought best, the recitations may be given from the 
seats occupied by the children^ each speaker standing instead 
of ascending a platform. 



192 Entertainments, 

1. Chorus. " Scatter smiles" etc. 

2. Solo and Chorus. Say : what are you going to 
do, brother! 

3. Recitation. 

WHAT TIM DID. 

It surprised the shiners and news boys around 
the post-office the other day, to see Limpy Tim 
come among them in a quiet way, and to hear him 
say: 

"Boys, I want to sell my kit. Here's two 
brushes, a hull box of blacking, a good stout box, 
and the' outfit goes for twenty-five cents ! " 

" Goin' away, Tim ? " asked one. 

" Not 'zackly, boys ; but I want a quarter the 
awfullest kind, just now." 

" Goin' on a 'scursion ? " asked another. 

"Not to-day, but I must have a quarter," he 
answered." 

One of the lads passed over the change and took 
the kit, and Tim walked straight to the counting- 
room of a daily paper, put down his money and 
said: 

" I guess I can write if you will give me a 
pencil." 

With slow moving fingers he wrote a death no- 
tice. It went into the paper almost as he wrote it. 



Sunday Evening Exercises. 193 

He wrote : " Died. Little Ted of scarlet fever, 
aged three years, Funeral tomorrer, gone up to 
Heven, left won brother." 

" Was it your brother ? " asked the cashier. 

Tim tried to brace up, but he couldn't. The 
big tears came up; his chin quivered, and he 
pointed to the notice on the counter and gasped — 
"I — I — had to sell my kit to do it, b — but he 
had his arms aroun' my neck, when he d — died ! " 

He hurried away home, but the news went to 
the boys, and they gathered in a group and talked. 

Tim had not been home long before a bare- 
footed boy left the kit on the door step, and in the 
box was a bunch of flowers which had been 
bought in the market with the pennies given by 
the crowd of ragged, but big-hearted boys. 

4. Recitation. Somebody 's mother. Harper's Weekly. 

5. Solo. Not a sparrow falleth. T. L. Gilbert. 

6. Recitation. In School Days. J. G. Whittier. 

7. Recitation. Texts. 

1st. " The conies are but a feeble folk, yet make they their 
houses in the rocks." Prov. 30: 26. 

2nd. " The spider taketh hold with her hands, and is in 
kings' palaces." Prov. 30 : 28. 

3rd. " The locusts have no king, yet they go forth all of 
them by bands." Prov. 30 : 27. 



194 Entertainments. 

4th. " The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare 
their meat in the summer. Go to the ant, thou sluggard." 

5th. " The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leop- 
ard shall lie down with the kid ; and the calf and young lion 
together ; and a little child shall lead them." Isa. 11:6. 

6th. " And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in 
the midst of them and said, Verily I say. unto you, Except ye 
be converted and become as little children, ye shall not enter 
into the kingdom of heaven." Matt. 18 : 2, 3. " 

8. Chorus. To the work, to the work. Gospel Hymms. 



PART II. 



1. Recitation. 

INSECT CARES. 

Some poet characterizes as " insect cares " those 
trivial concerns that worry and torment poor care- 
worn humanity, like flies and mosquitoes ; and 
worse than these they haunt us in all seasons. 
They swarm about us in midwinter as vigorously 
as in fly time. And yet when one attempts to im- 
pale a specimen, they vanish from our grasp. We 
are worried by them, but can hardly tell how or 
why. And still they ply us with their tiny stings. 



Sunday Evening Exercises. 195 

We resolve not to mind such trifles, and fall back 
on our dignity only to have it undermined by these 
little iconoclasts. Are we not too hasty in our 
judgments of trifles ? We look back and discern 
some seeming nonentity, transmuted by experience 
into a momentous concern, and realize how : 

" The pebble in the streamlet scant 

May turn the course of many a river ; 
The clewdrop on the infant plant 
May warp the giant oak forever." 

Rev. W.E.Boise. 



2. Chorus. By Infant Class. 

3. Recitation. News-Boy's Debt. 

THE NEWS-BOY'S DEBT. 

" Sir, if you please, my brother Jim — 

The one you gave the bill, you know — 
He couldn't bring the money, sir, 
Because the back was hurted so. 

" He didn't mean to keep the change ; 
He got runned over up the street ; 
One wheel went right across his back 
And tother fore-wheel mashed his feet. 

" They stopped. the horses just in time, 
And then they took him up for dead, 
And all that day and yesterday 
He wasn't rightly in his head. 



196 Entertainments. 

" They took him to the hospital, 

One of the news-boys knew 'twas Jim, 
And I went, too, because you see 
We two are brothers, I and him. 

" He had that money in his hand, 
And never saw it any more ; 
Indeed, he didn't mean to steal ! 
He never lost a cent before. 

" He was afraid that you might think 
He meant to keep it any way, 
This morning when they brought him to, 
He cried so, 'cause he couldn't pay. 

" He made me bring his jacket here, 
It's torn and dirtied pretty bad ; 
But still 'twill do to sell for rags, 
And then, you know, it's all he had. 

" When he gets well — it won't be long — 
If you will call the money lent, 
He says he'll work his fingers off, 
But what he'll pay you every cent." 

And then he cast a rueful glance 
At the soiled jacket, where it lay. 
" No, no, my boy ! Take back the coat. 
Your brother's badly hurt, you say ? 

"Where did they take him ? just run out 
And hail a cab, then wait for me ; 
Why, I would give a thousand coats, 
And pounds, for such a boy as he ! 



Sunday Evening Exercises. 197 

A half-hour after this, we stood 

Together in the crowded wards, 
And the nurse checked the hasty steps 

That fell so loudly on the boards. 

I thought him smiling in his sleep, 
And scarce believed her when she said — 

Smoothing away the tangled hair 

From brow and cheek — " the boy is dead." 

Dead ? dead so soon ? how fair he looked 
One streak of sunshine on his hair — 

Poor lad ! well, it is warm in heaven, 
No need of ' change ' and jackets there, 

And something rising in my throat 

Made it so hard for me to speak, 
I turned away, and left a tear 

Lying upon his sunburned cheek. 



4. Recitation. By a five-year-old. 

GRAN'MA AL'AS DOES. 

I wants to mend my wagon, 

And has to have some nails ; 
Jus' two, free, will be plenty, 

We're going to haul our rails ; 
The splendidest cob fences, 

We're makin' ever was \ 
I wis' you'd help us find em, 

Gran'ma al'as does. 



198 Entertainments. 



My horse's name is Betsey, 

She jumped and broke her head ; 
I put her in a stable, 

And fed her milk and bread. 
The stable's in the parlor, 

We didn't make no muss — 
I wis' you'd let it stay there, 

Gran'ma al'as does. 

I wants some bread and butter, 

I's hungry worstest kind ; 
And Teddie had better have some, 

Cause she wouldn't mind. 
Put plenty sugar on it — 

I tell you what, I knows 
It's right to put on sugar ; 

Gran'ma al'as does. 

A. H. Poe, in tJie " Bright Side" 

5. Recitation. The Unprofitable Servant. 

6. Solo. Ninety and Nine. 

7. Recitation. Smile whenever you can. 

8. Reading. By a Teacher. " Stop her, Pard ; stop 
No. 29." From the Christian Union, by D. T. Wright. 



Sunday Evening Exercises. 



VI. — LESSONS FROM FLOWERS. 

PROGRAMME. 



i. Music. The Lord is my Shepherd ; or, When all thy mercies, O my God. 

2. School. Repeat in concert. Isa. 35 : 1, 2. 

3. Recitation. By an older boy, of Texts of Scripture, illustrated by living 

flowers, branches, vines, grass. To be found in Pansy's Picture 
Book, p. 173. 

4. Recitation. Oh, roses, roses, who shall sing? Mistress of the Manse, 

p. 165. Dr. J. G. Holland. 

5. Music, or Recitation. Not worlds on worlds in phalanx deep. Plymouth 

Coll.. 1295, and in many other hymn books. 

6. Reading. Story of a French prisoner. Found in Hooker's Child's Book 

of Nature, in an early chapter. 

7. Recitation. Cornfields. Whittier's Child Life, p. 105. Hewitt. 

8. School. In concert. Psa. 107:21. 

9. Use of Flowers. Bryant's Lib. of Poetry and Song, p. 370. Howitt. 

10. Music. What shall the harvest be ? Gospel Hymns. 

11. Recitation. Discontent. St. Nicholas, Feb. 1876. S. O.Jewett. 

12. Music. Nothing but leaves. Gospel Hymns. 

13. The Gospel of Flowers. National S. School Teacher, Sept. 1872. 

In this last named exercise, eight little people recite in succession a descriptive 
verse, and then add a bouquet to the decoration of a cross. 

199 



Sunday Evening Exercises. 



VII. — LITTLE DEEDS OF KINDNESS. 

i. Music. Little drops of water. 

2. Recitation. 

" Small service is true service while it lasts, 

Of humblest friends, bright creature, scorn not one ; 
The daisy, by the shadow that it casts, 

Protects the lingering dewdrop from the sun.'' 

3. Recitation. The Angel's Ladder. M. F. Butts. 

St. Nicholas, Mar. 1876. p. 303. 

4. Reading. Tongue of sandpaper or velvet. Rev. Parton Hood. 

National S. School Teacher. Feb., 1873. 

5. Recitation. 

" It is not so much what you say, 

-As the manner in which you say it : 

It is not so much the language you use, 

As the tone in which you convey it. 

" The words may be mild and fair, 

And the tone may pierce like a dart ; 

The words may be soft as the summer air, 

And the tone may break the heart." 



6. Recitation. 



Use gentle words, for who can tell 

The blessings they impart ? 
For oft they fall, as manna fell, 

On some faint, weary heart. 

On lonely plains, by light-winged birds, 
Rare seeds have oft been sown ; 

And hope has sprung from gentle words, 
Where only grief hadgrown." 



Sunday Evening Exercises. 201 



7. Rhcitation. 



Speak we with the tongue or pen, 
To the sons of living men, 
Let our words be true and pure, 
Since their influence must endure.' ' 

8. Recitation. Grass. St. Nicholas, May, 1877. Edgar Fazvcett. 

9. Sentence. 

" The least flower with a brimming cup, 
May share its dewdrop with another near." 

10. Music. Your Mission. 

11. Reading. The Little Nurse. Whittier's Child Life, p. 205. 

12. Recitation. 

" She doeth little kindnesses, 

Which most leave undone or despise ; 
For nought that sets a heart at ease, 
And giveth happiness or peace, 
Is low esteemed in her eyes." 

13. Music. Scatter seeds of kindness. 

14. Reading. Buckle the throat latch. Rev. John Todd. 

National S. School Teacher, June, 1871. 

15. Recitation. 

" The works my calling doth propose, 
Let me not idly shun. 
For he whom idleness undoes 
Is more than twice undone. " 

16. Music. Nothing but leaves. 

17. Recitation. 

" This thought I give you all to keep — 
Who soweth good will also reap, 
The year grows rich as it groweth old, 
And life's latest sands are its sands of gold. 

18. Music. What shall the harvest be ? Gospel Hymns. 

19. Recitation. Mysteries. Kate Cameron. 

We are at best but broken reeds, 

Each fails the other in his needs. 

A single word to me would bring 

The vanished glory of life's spring ; 

And thou, my friend, might'st speak that word, 

But ah ! its sound is never heard, 

And I grope on, in doubt and pain, 

Beset by yearnings all in vain. 

Another waiteth for my smile 

Which might from weariness beguile ; 



202 Entertainments, 



■ How can I that slight boon withhold, 
Worth more to thirsting heart than gold ? 
Oh ! mystery of all and each ! 
We prize the bliss beyond our reach ; 
And often, by a cruel fate, 
The longed-for blessing comes too late. 

Yes ! when some note discordant jars, 
And thus life's sweetest music mars, 
Each feels the sharp and sudden thrill, 
Beyond the power of human will. 
None can the mystic ties control, 
That bind us closely soul to soul ; 
And none can break the magic chain, 
Which vibrates between heart and brain. 

No one on earth alone can live ; 
All must receive, and all must give ; 
And well for us, if naught but flowers 
Are scattered by these hands of ours ; 
For oft the pathway that we tread 
Is thickly strewn with thorns instead, 
O, let us faithful vigils keep, 
Wisely to sow, and gladly reap ! 



Sunday Evening Exercises. 

VIII.— THE TEMPLE SERVICE. 

by lizzie -w. c:H:.A.:M::p:tsr:E-5r- 
PROGRAMME. 

No. 1. 
THE GOLDEN - CANDLESTICKS. 

This can be successfully presented by a class of 
seven girls, varying in age from twelve to sixteen. 
They should be aided by a director or teacher, and 
by a choir, or congregational singing. Two black- 
boards should be arranged facing the audience, on 
which, after the exercises have been opened by 
prayer and singing, two of the girls make large 
drawings — one a simple picture of the golden can- 
dlestick, and the other an outline map of the coun- 
tries around the Mediterranean — Egypt, Palestine, 
Asia Minor, Greece and Italy. While the two 
girls are engaged in drawing, a third reads a com- 
position giving the history of the candlesticks of 
the sanctuary, the history of the ornaments of the 
Temple, bringing in necessarily the various cap- 
203 



204 Entertainments. 

tivities — when they were carried away to Egypt, 
to Babylon, and finally to Rome. If a large pho- 
tograph of the Arch of Titus can be procured, 
showing the candlestick carried in triumph, it will 
add to the effect to show and explain it after the 
reading of the composition. After a musical selec- 
tion, another of the girls should, with a pointer, 
trace out on the map which No. 2 has drawn, the va- 
rious countries to which the candlestick journeyed. 
Another may next give all the texts from the 
words of Christ in which the words candle, candle- 
stick, and giving light occur. Another may jot 
down upon the map the seven cities referred to in 
the Revelation, as candlesticks. 

The director should then call attention to the fact 
that wherever there is a candle there is a guardian 
star : wherever a church, " a watcher and holy one " 
set over it ; and can close his remarks with the quo- 
tation : 

" Now the stars are lit in heaven, 

,We should light our lamps on earth ; 

Every star a signal given 

From the God of our new birth, 

Every lamp an answer faint, 

Like the prayer of mortal saint." 

After which the seven girls should take their 
positions on the platform for the final tableau. 
Each holds a candle a yard long, similar to the 
Roman processional candles. They can be very 
easily made by sawing off old broomsticks, insert- 



Sunday Evening Exercises. 205 

ing a small piece of candle at one end, and cover- 
ing the stick smoothly with colored paper. Each 
candle should be of a different tint. Love, who 
stands in the center, holds the only one which is 
lighted. 

Love, ^ 
Pink. 
Faith, Truth, 

/ White. Blue. 

Hope, Courage. 

Green. Red. 

Patience, Joy, 

Purple. Yellow. 

All sing (Tune, "Sheaf"): 

We are seven slender candles 
. In one golden candlestick, 
We have each received our orders : 

Shine through the darkness thick. 
Though your light be faint and flickering, 

Though the wind and rain combine 
To quench your taper's glimmer, 

Shine steady, sisters, shine ! 

We are seven shining candles — 

Joy, Courage, perfect Truth, 
Love, Faith, and Hope, and Patience — 

To guide the steps of youth. 
We have each received commandment 

From the dear Lord above ; 
To shine with clearest radiance, 

You must light your lamps from Love. 



2 o 6 Entertainments. 

At this point Faith and Truth turn so that they 
face each other, and, extending their candles until 
they form a pointed arch over the head of Love, 
they light their candles at- hers, then wheel, facing 
Hope and Courage respectively, form arches with 
these, and., having lighted their candles, return to 
position facing the audience. Hope and Courage 
turn facing Patience and Joy, and light their 
candles in like manner. This has a very pretty 
effect. All then sing : 

Which candle shines the brigntest 
Of all the sisters seven ? 

Joy replies: 

Tis Joy, whose glorious halo 
To the pure in heart is given. 

Patience, at the other extremity of the line, an- 
swers : 

Nay, sisters, it is Patience, 

Throwing through tearful mist 
A light, subdued and tender, 

A ray of amethyst. 

From this point on sing to " Shining Shore." 
Courage sings alone : 

O give the meed to Courage, 

Th<?/ beacon flaming high, 
Who|e flaring torch to battle leads, 

Re&d'ning the earth and sky. 
The.glorious band of martyrs, 

Who for the truth's sake bled, 
All bore the lamp of Courage, 

It's brave light flashing red. 



Sunday Evening Exercises. 



207 



Hope. 



Truth. 



Faith. 



Love. 



All. 



The torch of Courage flickers ; 

Without the light of Hope, 
Who with his earthly trials 

Would e'er have heart to cope ? 

Ah ! no, dear friends, though Hope be dead, 

We may at least be true, 
And faithfully my whole -life long 

I'll hold my candle blue. 

But when you cross the river, 

That cold, dark river, death, 
What lamp can gild its somber waves 

But the pure light of Faith ? 

What says the blessed Bible, 

Given by our God above ? 
Each Christian grace, and even Faith, 

Is nothing without Love. 



Then let us shine together, 

That Christ may mark his own, 

And when we die, of each may say 
That while she lived she shone. 

At the word " die " each raises her right hand, in 
which is concealed an extinguisher, and puts out 
her candle. The action should be graceful and 
simultaneous, and the effect will be very striking. 



PROGRAMME. 

No. 3. 

THE ALTAR OF INCENSE. 

This, if for an entire evening, may be arranged 



208 Entertainments. 

in a similar manner to Programme No. 1, closing 
with the following tableau : 

A young lady, dressed to represent an angel, 
stands upon an elevated platform, swaying a 
censer. If real incense can be burned, so much 
the better. A step or two below her stand five little 
girls, aged ten to fourteen, each holding a casket 
(fancy glove and handkerchief-boxes). Introduc- 
ing the tableau, the superintendent or director 
repeats Revelation 8 : 3 ? 4. The five girls sing : 

There stands a shining angel 

Upon the heavenly strand, 
Swaying a golden censer 

With gentle, tireless hand ; 
And from the censer riseth 
A perfume sweet and faint — 
The prayer of every joyful 

And each heart-broken saint. 
The incense in the censer 

Is a perfume rich and rare ; 
The deepest feelings of the heart 

We offer God in prayer. 
We are spices for the incense, 

Myrrh, aloes, spikenard good 
Frankincense very costly, 

And odorous cassia bud. 
When you offer to the angels 

Your incense, choose from these, 
If you with all sweet spices 

The glorious king would please. 



Sunday Evening Exercises. 209 

First Little Girl, 

When the Eastern monarch-sages 

Their richest offerings brought, 
Their gardens, full of orient balm, 

Full carefully they sought. 
They chose the costliest perfume 

That glads the grateful sense, 
And laid before the Infant Christ, 

With gold, their frankincense. 
Like theirs, oh ! be thy offering 

With heartiest thanks imbued, 
And prove by gift to others 

Thy heartfelt gratitude. 

(Extends the casket to the Angel, who appears to take 
some of its contents and place it in the censer?) 

Second Little Girl. 

Ah ! not alone by gifts of gold 

And lordly frankincense 
Could we fulfil the Master's will 

And perfume sweet dispense. 
There grows in Eastern gardens 

By every cottage door 
A sweeter herb, prized by the rich 

And by the lowly poor. 
It is the balmy cassia ; 

The lordly frankincense 
Without its blended perfume 

Is odorless and dense. 
So gifts and thanks, though wafted 

By the angel's hand above, 
Will not make pleasing incense 

If all unmixed with Love. 

{Lifts her casket to the Angel?) 



210 Entertainments, 

Third Little Girl. 

Ah ! not alone with odors sweet 

We fill the censer bright ; 
The bitter herbs, with weeping plucked, 

We bring at dead of night — 
Myrrh, from the marble sepulchers 

Of those we've loved and lost, 
For prayer was made for sorrow 

And hearts all tempest-tossed. 

{Lifts her casket to the Angel.) 

Fourth Little Girl. 

Though gall and wormwood be the herbs 

That grow beside the tomb, 
Repentance is the bitterest 

Of all the flowers that bloom. 
The heaviest of all sorrow — 

'Tis sorrowing for sin — 
We place as bitter aloes 

The censer's bowl within. 

(Lifts her casket to the Angel.) 

Fifth Little Girl. 

But ah ! the bitter aloes 

Is never burned alone ; 
The angel places with it 

The sweetest spice e'er known — 
The perfume lavished on our Lord 

By Mary Magdalene — 
The spikenard's sacred fragrance, 

Joy for forgiven sin ! 

(Lifts her casket to the A7igel.) 

All. 

With fire from off the altar touched, 
The Christian's prayer should rise, 



Sunday Evening Exercises. 211 

A cloud of curling incense, 
Seeking the lofty skies. 



<o > 

PROGRAMME. 

No. 3. 

THE ALTAB OF SACBIFICE. 

Final tableau, arranged for five boys, who hold 
respectively : 

1. Two rough pieces of wood, crossed and rest- 
ing on the shoulders. 

2. A cord. 

3. A sword, or large bright knife. 

4. A handkerchief, folded as a bandage. 

5. A chafing-dish of coals or small lighted sticks. 
The choir introduce the exercise by singing 

"Not all the blood of beasts," etc., adding these 
two verses : 

As Christ has died for us, 

So we ourselves would bring, 

Each yielding up himself to God, 

A whole burnt offering. 

They err who tell us that has passed 
The time of sacrifice ; 
God calls us now to offer up 
Each darling fault and vice. 
First and Second Boys, in concert. 

We climb the mount like Isaac, 
Bearing the cord and wood. 



212 Entertainments. 

Fourth and Fifth Boys. 

The fire, the cloth for binding, 
Third Boy. 

The knife to shed our blood. 
First Boy. 

The wood, it speaks of Labor 

From the cedar to the fir ; 

And Christ himself wrought upon wood, 

A lowly carpenter. 

Fifth Boy. 

The fire, it is the Spirit 

That quickens into zeal ; 

As the wood is to the fire, 

So is labor 'neath its thrill, 

As the fire is without wood, 

So, earnest labor gone, 

E'en Inspiration's self is naught — 

Each falls when left alone. 

Second Boy. 

The cord is Resignation : 
They bound e'en Thy dear Son ; 
And meekly he submitted, 
Saying, " Thy will be done.' 

Fourth Boy. 

The bandage speaks of perfect Trust ; 
{Third and Fifth Boys blindfold No. 4.) 
Willing to nothing see, 
So I can hold my father's hand 
And know he leadeth me. 



Third Boy. 



The final test of sacrifice, 
The sharp and dreadful knife, 



Sunday Evening Exercises. 213 

Bids that at call of our dear Lord 
We spare not limb nor life ; 
That we give up at his command 
Each fault, though sweet and dear, 
"For even Christ pleased not himself,'i 
While journeying 'mongst us here. 

All, in concert, very distinctly. 

We bring the fire, the cord, the wood, 
The knife, the blinded eyes ; 
And thus we yield ourselves to God, 
A whole burnt-sacrifice. 

This exercise looks complicated; but on re- 
hearsal will be found to be very simple. 



Sunday Evening Exercises. 



IX. — JESUS ONLY. 



A large frci7ne cross, covered with green paper and con- 
taining between thirty and forty augur-holes, stands on 
the platform. Nine nails, corresponding to the letters in 
Jesus Only, are placed on the cross, equally distant from 
each other. Five little girls and four boys occupy the front 
pew, holdi?ig each a large letter to be hung on the cross. 

The Superi?itendent op efts the exercises with prayer, and 
then explaijis that the object of the meeting is to consider 
some of the names and attributes of Christ. He calls upon 
the class before him to furnish one. 

One of the girls rises and hangs upo?i the cross the letter 
J, repeating the text, " Before Abraham was I am." 

Hie Super intende?it then asks the question^ "lam what ? " 
and may give Mr. Moody's illustratio?i of the blank check, 
u Christ proclaims himself just what we need; we may fill 
out the check with whatever we want. If we want rest, 
we can fill out the check with that word, and Christ replies, 
I am rest," and so on. 

Singing. By the choir. Crusader's Hymn, " Fairest 
Lord Jesus." 

A little boy ascends the platform, and repeats the text : 
" And they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being in- 
terpreted is, God with us." 
214 



Sunday Evening Exercises. 215 

Hangs the letter E upon the cross. 
Choir, or congregatiofi, sing, " Be leadeth me." 
Second little girl recites : 

" I am the Lord : and beside me is no Saviour." Isaiah 43 : 2. 
" We have seen and do testify that the father sent the Son 
to be the Saviour of the world." John 4 : 14. 
Jiangs the letter S upon the cross. 

Singing. "Jesus, lover of my soul;" or, " When through 
the torn sail." 

Second little Boy recites : 

" Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given." Isaiah 
9:6. 

Hangs the letter U on the cross. 

Singing. " While Shepherds watched their flocks by 
night." 

Third 'little girl : 

" And I saw, and bare record this is the Son of God." 
John 1 : 34. 

Hangs the letter S on the cross. 

Singing. " How beauteous are the marks divine" (by 
A. C. Coxe). 

Third little boy : 

" I am Alpha and Omega the first and the last." Rev. 1 : 2. 

" The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death." 1 Cor. 
15 : 26. 

Hangs the letter O on the cross. 

Singing, Dies Irce, especially the last verse. 

Fourth little girl : 

"Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none 



2 1 6 Entertainments. 

other name under heaven given among men whereby we must 
be saved." Acts 4 : 12. 

Hangs the letter N 011 the cross. 
Singing. " Jesus, the very thought of Thee." 
Fourth little boy : 

" Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of 
the world." John 1 : 29. 

Hangs the letter L on the cross. 

Singing. " O sacred head now wounded.'' 

Fifth little girl ': 

{Asks the question.) "Are all the promises of the Bible 
fulfilled in Christ ? Will he fill out the sentence I am ? " 
{Repeats the text?) " For all the promises of God in him are 
Yea." 2 Cor. 1 : 20. 

Hangs the letter Y on the cross. 

Singing. " How firm a foundation." 

The Superintendent can lengthen the exercises by mak- 
ing remarks before or after the recitation of each text, and 
at the close should draw attention to the legend, 

JESUS ONLY. 
emblazoned on the cross. 

After the class have hung all the letters, all the younger 
metnbers of the Sunday-school should march up one aisle to 
the platform, carrying bouquets, and down the other aisle. 

Two or more young ladies should receive the bouquets 
and rapidly place them in the holes in the cross. While 
this is being do tie the- choir should sing, softly, " Tell me the 
old, old story" 



Evening Exercises. 



X. — THE GOSPEL ARMOR. 

PROGRAMME. 

i. Hymn. 

" Stand up my soul, shake off thy fears, 
And gird the Gospel armor on.'' 

2. Recitation. Scripture. 

3. Hymn. 

" Restraining prayer, we cease to fight, 
Prayer makes the Christian's armor bright; 
And Satan trembles when he sees 
The weakest saint upon his knees." 

4. Recitation. Selections from Sir Launfal. Lowell. 

5. Hymn. The Son of God goes forth to war. Episcopal Hymnal. 

6. Recitation. Sir Galahad. Tennyson. 

7. Hymn. Onward, Christian Soldiers. Episcopal Hymnal. 

8. Recitation. Heroes. M, B. Smedley. 

9. Hymn. The Armor of Light. Geo. T. Root. 

or, Am I a soldier of the Cross ; (in the Prize.) 

10. Class Exercise for twelve Boys. 

11. Hymns. This life is a warfare ; and, Only an armor bearer. 

12. Recitation. The Battle of Life. 

13. Hymn. Battle hymn of the Republic. (Tune : John Brown.) 

217 



2 1 8 Entertainments. 

DESCRIPTION OF PROGRAMME. 

1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, ii, 13 need no explanation. 

2. Recitation. Scripture. Ephesians6: 11, 12, 13, 14, 
15, 16, 17. Jeremiah 46 : 3, 4. Psalms 91, 2. Last half of 4 
and 5. Psalms 18, 2, 34, 39. 

8. "Heroes" may be found in "Touches of Nature." 
(Lippincott &* Co.) 

10. Class Exercise for twelve boys.. Boys occupy the 
front seats in the hall or church. The first speaker rises 
in his seat and recites : 

THE INTRODUCTION. 

" In the knightly times and olden, 

Before historic days, 
There lived the good King Arthur, 

Sung in the Laureate's lays. 
And he the goodliest fellowship 

Of noble knights did found ; 
And named them, as in hall they sat, 

Knights of the Table Round. 
They pledged each other's honor, 

As we to-day will do, 
To battle for the beautiful 

And all that's good and true ; 
To kindly lift the fallen, 

To shield the faint and weak, 
And ever on the oppressor, 

A vengeance swift to wreak. 
We've formed again the circle 

Of Arthur's Table Round ; 
Brave knights are we, though youthful — 

We wait the trumpet's sound." 

Some one in the choir, or behind the scenes, sounds a 
charge upoii the bugle. The boys rise a?id ascend the plat- 



Sunday Eveni?ig Exercises. 219 

form in two lines, meeting, crossing, and halting in line. 
They sing as they go, Song A, to the tune of the Children's 
Marching Song, page 82, of The Sunny Side, published by 
Wm. A. Pond, 547 Broadway, N. Y. 

SONG A. 

Hear ye the bugle, march to its singing, 
Enter the ranks so bright and fair, 

All together cheerily singing, 
For the grand review prepare. 

Chorus. 

Keep step ! Forward ! as we march along 
• Keep the step with happy song. 

Answer the roll-call, each knightly name ; 

Never one dark, unworthy deed 

Now or in the future put it to shame ; 

Answer the roll-call with speed. 

The leader will then call the roll, giving only the name 
of the knight, which its bearer repeats, and adds his escutch- 
eon and watchword. 



ROLL CALL. 

Sir Galahad, of the sword, without fear and without re- 
proach. Watchword : Purity. 

Sir Bedivere, of the shield. Watchword : Faith. 

Sir Pelleas, of the breast-plate. Watchword : Righteous- 
ness, 

Sir Lancelot, of the breast-plate. Watchword : Courtesy. 

Sir Geraint, of the golden spurs. Watchword : Earnest- 
ness. 

Sir Tristram, of the gauntlet. Watchword : Will. 



22 o Entertainments. 

Sir Gawain, of the velvet glove. Watchword : Gentleness. 

Sir Bors, of the buckler. Watchword : Honesty. 

Sir Percival, of the belt. Watchword : Truth. 

Sir Morolt, of the battle-axe. Watchword : Temperance. 

Sir Vanoc, of the sandals. Watchword : Peace. 

King Arthur, of the helmet. Watchword : Salvation. 

{After the roll-call the choir sing) 

SONG B. 

Arm ye, young soldiers, arm for the fight, 

The foe in his strength draweth near. 
Quit you like men, and be strong for the right, 

Let the gospel's bright armor appear. 

Recitation. Sir Galahad. 

Take the sword of the spirit, the word of our God, 

Which from age unto age standeth sure ; 
And which biddeth each knight, as a seraph of light, 

In heart and in word to be pure. 

Chorus. [Sung by all the boys) Tune : " I know not 
the hour that my Lord will come." 

Take the sword, the sword of the pure, 

Repeat. 
And may every young knight, as a seraph of light, 

In heart and in word be all pure. 

Recitation. Sir Bedivere. 

Take the shield of our faith, 'twill ward every blow 

The tempter surely will wield ; 
From the castle of doubt you can fight your way out, 

If you take the invincible shield. 



Sunday Evening Exercises. 221 

Chorus. 

Take the shield, the shield of the faith, 

Repeat. 
For you never need yield if you take the brignt shield, 

The invincible shield of our faith. 

Recitation. Sir Pelleas. 

Take the breastplate of righteousness, too, 

Of kindness to keep the heart warm. 
If this be your dress, it will comfort and bless ; 

You'll be safe midst the arrows' fierce storm. 

Chorus. 

The breastplate bright of love and right, 

Repeat. 
If once bound o'er the breast is a magical vest, 

To turn every shaft in the fight. 

Recitation. Sir Lancelot. 

Take the lance that shows you a courteous knight, 

True emblem of chivalry ; 
The soldier of light should be gentle, polite, 

A model of courtesy. 

Chorus. 

Take the lance so polished and bright, 

Repeat. 
For no true knight may be without sweet courtesy, 

The lance that's so polished and bright. 

Recitation. Sir Geraint 

Take the spurs of a purpose so noble and high 

That they'll urge on through dark to the light, 
For Hist'ry avers he must win the gold spurs 

Who would wear the fair fame of a knight. 



222 Entertainments. 

Chorus. 

Take the spurs of a purpose strong, 

Repeat. 
And each barrier steep you will lightly o'erleap 
If an earnest heart urge you on. 

Recitation. Sir Tristram and Sir Gawain. 
Take the iron gauntlet of will 

It will beat down your foes as they throng, 
But case it in love as a velvet glove — 

Be gentle if you would be strong. 

Chorus. 

The iron hand in velvet glove, 

Repeat. 
For a gauntlet of steel is a firm, manly will, 

And kindness the velvet glove. 

Recitation. Sir Bors and Sir Percival. 

Take the buckler of honesty, metal of proof, 

It will stand in temptation's fierce hour, 
Though trials assail it will surely prevail 

And the truth is a girdle of power. 

Chorus. 

Take the buckler and belt so strong, 

Repeat. 
And whatever you do, oh ! be honest and true ; 

And you'll sing the conqueror's song. 

Recitation. Sir Morolt and Sir Vanoc. 

Take the battle-axe of temperance strong 

And batter rum's strongholds with blow upon 
blow, 
Nor till Satan's wiles cease wear the sandals of peace, 
Where lingers this dangerous foe. 



Sunday Evening Exercises. 223 

Chorus. 

Take the sandals and battle-axe too, 

Repeat. 
Who deals blows in the fight, shall rest sweetly 
at night, 
The sandals his strength will renew. 

Recitation. King Arthur. 

Christ is our King, 'tis he bids us take 

These weapons that suit every station. 
If this armor we bind, at length we shall find 

The Helmet of our salvation. 

Chorus. 

And at the last may they sing of us 

Repeat, 
The brave knights are all dust, and their good 
swords are rust, 

Their souls are with the saints we trust. 

Real armor should be piled picturesquely upon a table on 
the platform, around which the boys stand while reciting; 
or, if this cannot be obtained they may hold symbols made of 
card-board, and gold and silver paper. At the close of these 
recitations a young lady advances, bearing a white banner, 
with a crimson cross, and sings: 

SONG C. 

Tune : Star Spangled Banner. 
I. 
Receive this fair banner, each gallant young knight, 

Whom so proudly we hail in the morning's glad beaming. 
Bear its cross proudly on through the perilous fight, 

Till o'er ramparts of Heaven its fair folds are streaming. 



224 Entertainments. 

Through afflictions red glare, through temptation, despair, 
Though dark be the night, may your flag be still there. 

Chorus. 

'Tis the cross-blazoned banner, 

O, long may it wave 
O'er souls that are true 

And o'er hearts that are brave. 

II. 

Oh ! guard well your banner, ne'er trail it in dust, 
Nor too hard in its service find any exertion. 

Keep your armor all bright, free from canker and rust 
May your roll call ne'er number a single desertion. 

Then conquer you must, for your cause it is just, 
And this be your motto, In God is our Trust. 

Chorus. 

And the cross-blazoned banner, 

In triumph shall wave, 
O'er souls that are true, 

And o'er hearts that are brave. 

No. 12 of the Programme can be found in Golden Leaves, 
from American Poets ; a collection of poetry, published by 
Bunce & Huntington, New York. 



Sunday Evening Exorcises. 



XL — THE NEW JERUSALEM. 

A little volume edited by William C. Prime, 
and entitled, " O Mother dear, Jerusalem," (pub- 
lished by Anson D. F. Randolph & Co, 770 Broad- 
way, New York City), contains the original hymn 
of thirty-one verses, than which no other in the 
English language expresses better " the soul's 
breathing after her heavenly country." 

This hymn, broken into several parts, and sung 
or read as a whole, would form the basis for a most 
beautiful exercise on Heaven, for the Sunday 
school. In the same volume may be found " The 
Celestial Country," a translation of the hymn, 
" Laus PatriaB Ccelestis," by Bernard de Clugny, 
of the twelfth century. 

This hymn was one of Charlotte Cushman's 
favorites for private readings, and is full of fine 
rhetorical passages, while its quaint sweetness lends 
it an inexpressible charm. 

An exercise on Paradise is given in the August, 
1878, number of " Good Times," a magazine de- 
voted to entertainments of this kind, and published 
by Mrs. M. B. C. Slade, Fall River, Mass. The 
225 



226 Entertainments. 

exercise is by Mary E. Wilkins, and will be found 
on the ninth page. 

Blumenthal's ballad, " Le Chemin du Paradis," 
furnishes material for an evening's entertainment 
of a similar nature, in the shape of a series of tab- 
leaux shown at intervals during the singing of the 
ballad, which is in itself very dramatic, and gives 
material for some touching pictures. The ballad 
is published in sheet form by Oliver Ditson & Co. 

The twenty-first and twenty-second chapters of 
Revelation will furnish texts for responsive exer- 
cises or recitations. 

Of hymns, " O City of our God," " As when 
the weary traveller gains," " Give me the wings of 
faith to rise," " There is a land of pure delight," 
" Oh, exiled Paradise," " There is a holy city," 
and others from the Plymouth Collection ; " From 
all thy saints in warfare," Episcopal Hymnal, and 
" Beautiful Land of Rest," will give an abundant 
choice. 

A very touching poem for recitation, appropriate 
in this connection, is " My ain Countrie." 

MY AIN COUNTRIE. 

" I am far frae my hame, an' I'm weary aftenwhiles, 

For the lang'd for hame bringing, an' my Father's welcome 

smiles. 
I'll ne'er be fu' content until my een do see 
The gowden gates of Heaven, an' my ain countrie. 



Sunday Evening Exercises. 227 

The earth is flecked wi' flowers, mony-tinted, fresh an' gay ; 
The birdies warble blithely, for my Father made them' sae ; 
But these sichts, an' these soun's will as naething be to me, 
When I hear the angels singing in my ain countrie. 

I've his gude word of promise, that some gladsome day the 

King 
To his ain royal palace, his banished hame will bring ; 
Wi' een an' wi' heart running owre we shall see 
The ' King in his beauty,' an' our ain countrie. 

My sins hae been mony, an' my sorrows hae been sair ; 
But there they'll never vex me, nor be remembered mair, 
For his bluid has made me white, an' his hand shall dry my 

e'e, 
When he brings me hame at last to my ain countrie. 

Like a bairn to its mither, a wee birdie to its nest, 

I wad fain be ganging noo until my Saviour's breast, 

For he geithers in his bosom, witless, worthless lambs like 

me, 
An' ' He carries them himsel,' to his ain countrie. 

He is faithful that has promised, he'll surely come again, 
He'll keep his tryst with me, at what hour I dinna ken ; 
But he bids me still to wait, an' ready aye to be, 
To gang at ony moment to my ain countrie. 

So I'm watching aye, and singing o' my hame as I wait 
For the soun'ing o' his footfa' this side the gowden gate. 
God gie his grace to ilk ane wha listens noo to me, 
That we may a' gang in gladness to our ain countrie." 



228 Entertainments. 

And another, not so well known as it deserves, is, 

YEARNINGS. 

Our hearts cry out, Is it near or far, 
The unseen world where the spirits are ? 
Our thoughts climb up by the starry way, 
To the blissful realms of cloudless day ; 
That beautiful land, where free from sin, 
Our loved and our lost have entered in. 

How we miss them all ! The children fair, 
The saint-like men with silvery hair, 
The maidens sweet, and the young men strong, 
From our hearts and homes have tarried long ; 
In vain we watch, and in vain we wait, 
They come not back thro' the pearly gate, 

We know their hearts are still true and fond, 
They could not change in the life beyond. 
And we do not fear they will forget, 
Having loved us once they love us yet. 
Therefore we yearn, whether near or far, 
To reach the home where our dear ones are. 

Kate Cameron. 



Sunday Evening Exercises. 



XII.— THE DELECTABLE MOUNTAINS. 

AN EXERCISE ON THE MOUNTAINS OF THE BIBLE. 

PROGRAMME. 

" The shepherds said moreover, We would that ye should stay here awhile, yet 
more to solace yourselves with the good of these Delectable Mountains." 

John Bunyan. 

i. Anthem. By choir. Let Mount Zion rejoice. 

2. Recitation of Scripture. By classes from the Sunday-school. 

3. Singing. As when the weary traveller gains ; and, How beautiful upon the 

Mountains. 

4. Reading. Selections from Ruskin. 

5. Recitation. Hymn of the Mountain Christian. Mrs. Hemans. 

6. Singing. Flee as a bird to the mountain ; and Back to our Mountains. 

From II Trovatore. Verdi. 

7. Short Recitations. Selected from The White Hills. 

Thomas Starr King. 

8. Singing. I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills. 

9. Exercise. On Bible Mountains. 

10. Remarks. By Pastor. 

11. Singing. 'Tis by thy strength the mountains stand. 

12. Benediction. 

229 



230 Entertainments. 



EXPLANATION OF PROGRAMME. 

1. Anthem. By Choir. Let Mount Zion rejoice. 

Psalms — 121 : 1 ; 148: 1 and 9 ; 95 : 4 ; 65 : 6, n, 12; 72: 
3; 125:2. Isaiah44:23; 49:13152:7; 54:10; 55 : 12 ; 
Habakkuk 3:6; Deut. 33 : 13 and 15. 

2. Recitation. Scripture. By classes from the Sun- 
day-school. 

3. Singing. "As when the weary traveller gains" etc. 

4. Reading. Selections from Buskin. 

RUSKIN, in his Modern Painters, gives us many sublime 
word-paintings of the mountains, of which the following se- 
lection may serve as an example : 

" The best image which the world can give of Paradise, is 
in the slope of the meadows, orchards, and cornfields on the 
sides of a great Alp, with its purple rocks and eternal snows 
above. Of the grandeur or expression of the hills I have not 
spoken ; how far they are great, or strong, or terrible, I do 
not for the moment consider, because vastness, and strength, 
and terror, are not to all minds subjects of desired contem- 
plation. It makes no difference to some men whether a nat- 
ural object be large or small ; whether it be strong or feeble. 
But loveliness of color, perfectness of form, endlessness of 
change, wonderfulness of structure, are precious to all undis- 
eased human minds ; and the superiority of the mountains, in 
all these things, to the lowland, is, I repeat, as measurable as 
the richness of a painted window matched with a white one ; 
or the wealth of a museum compared with that of a simply 
furnished chamber. They seem to .have been built for the 



Sunday Eveving Exercises. 231 

human race, as at once their schools and their cathedrals, full 
of treasures of illuminated manuscript for the scholar, kindly 
in simple lessons to the worker, quiet in pale cloisters for the 
thinker, glorious in holiness for the worshipper. And of 
these great cathedrals of the earth, with their gates of rock, 
pavement of cloud, choirs of stream and stone, altars of snow* 
and vaults of purple, traversed by the continual stars — of 
these it was written not long ago by one of the best of the 
poor human race for whom they were built : ' They are inhab- 
ited by the beasts.' " 

5. Recitation. Hymn of the Mountain Christian. 
Mrs. Hemans. 

6. Singing. " Flee as a bird to the mountain ; " and, 
" Back to Our Mountains" from II Trovatore. Verdi. 

7. Short Recitations. The White Hills. Thomas 
Starr King. 

8. Singing. I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills. 

9. An exercise of mingled singing and recitation for 
seven girls. Any common metre tune may be chosen : 

THE MOUNTAINS OF THE BIBLE. 

All Sing: 

Mount Sinai with its thunder cloud 

Looms through the ages dim ; 
Mount Carmel and Mount Ararat, 

And sacred Gerezim. 
Of all the mounts of Palestine, 

In Bible hist'ry framed, 
What one is most delectable, 

For holiest memories framed ? 



232 Entertainments. 

First Girl sings : 

And now of Nebo ven'rable, 
Our witness first shall be ; 
For Moses climbed its sightly peak, 
The Promised Land to see. 
1 And higher yet, and still more high, 
For unto him was given 
The mountain-top of Nebo, for 
A stepping-stone to Heaven. 

All recite in concert Deut. 34: 1,5 and 6. First girl 
stepping a little forward, recites either Mount Nebo, by 
Ferdifiand Freiligrath, or, The Burial of Moses, by C. F. 
Alexander, translated by y Gostick. Both may be found 
in Longfellow's Poems of Places, Asia. 

Second Girl sings : 

A naked rock 'tis now, and gaunt ; 

But once beside the sea, 
Green-mantled, towered Mount Lebanon, 

Its pride the cedar tree. 
Then there is Mount Moriah, where 

The Jewish temples stood ; 
Costly with gems and metal work, 

And odorous cedar wood. 

All recite 1 Kings 5 : 2, 5, 6, 10. Second girl recites the 
following verses from Mrs. Howitf s poem : 

CEDAR TREES. 

The power that formed the violet, 

The all-creating One, 
He made the stately cedar-trees 

That crowned Mount Lebanon. 



Sunday Evening Exercises. 233 

And royal was the cedar, 

Above all other trees ! 
They chose of old its scented wood 

For kingly palaces. 
In the temple of Jerusalem, 

That glorious temple old, 
They only found the cedar-wood 

To match with carved gold. 
But the glory of the cedar tree, 

Is as an old renown, 
And few and dwindled grow they now 

Upon Mount Lebanon. 
But dear they are to poet's heart, 

And dear to painter's eye ; 
And the beauty of the cedar tree 

On earth will never die ! " 

Third Girl sings : 

But ah ! on Quarantania's brow, 

The blessed Saviour trod ; 
And there withstood the tempter's wiles, 

The spotless Son of God. 

All recite Matt. 4 : 8 to 11 inclusive. Third girl reeites 
The Temptation, by Longfellow {in Poems of Places, Asia). 

Fourth Girl sings : 

We thank thee, Christ, for victory ; 

But tenderer gratitude, 
We offer at Tell Hattim's foot 
For each Beatitude. 

All recite Matt. 5:1. 

Fourth girl recites Matt. 5 : 2 to 12 inclusive. 



234 Entertainments, 

Fifth Girl sings: 

Tabor or Hermon, one of these 

Transfiguration claims ; 
We worship at the mountain's foot, 
With Peter, John, and James. 

All recite Luke 9:28 and 29. 

Fifth girl recites 

THE TRANSFIGURATION. 

(Ancient Hymn.) 

Bring, happy day, to light, 
Things which dark-mantling night 

In envious silence hath so long been stealing ; 
When on the mountain floor, 
Before the three of yore, 

The Son of Man his glory was revealing. 
And, through His flesh's shrouding shrine, 
Illuminating ran the radiance divine. 

The full irradiance flows, 
To every limb it goes, 

With snowy light his fiery garments blending ; 
Now awe-struck silence quakes, 
And the live thunder speaks, 

From the bright cloud in majesty descending. 
Then sounds the unutterable voice, 
Proclaiming His dear Son, the everlasting choice, 

With low-brow'd awe profound, 
Be silent on the ground — 

The Lord of all is on His holy hill. 
And now, with voice of fear, 



Sunday Evening Excer rises. 235 

Let angel hosts draw near, 

While all the listening world is still, 
To sing the Spirit and the Word, 
And Father, whose dread voice was in the thunder 
heard. 

Sixth Girl sings: 

Mount Olivet tells us of prayer, 

Of tears and agony, 
Of strength vouchsafed for martyrdom, 

And angel ministry. 

All recite Luke 22 .'39 to 43 inclusive. 

Sixth girl recites The Olive Tree, by Mrs. Hemans. 

Seventh Girl sings: 

But the mountain of all mountains, 

To Christian hearts must be, 
That place with cruel murder dark, 

Blood-stained Mount Calvary. 

All recite St. Luke 23 : 33. 

Seventh girl recites the Stabat Mater, from Poems of 
Places, Asia, 



All sing 



We know the road is sharp and steep, 
The mounts not always fair, 

But every step doth upward lead, 
And Christ, our Lord, walked there. 

Still stand the Mounts Delectable, 
Where Jesus loved to be, 



236 Entertainments, 

And ever over mountain tops, 
Dear Lord, we'll follow thee ! 

10. Remarks by Pastor. 

11. 'Tis by thy strength the mountains stand. 

12. Benediction. 

If preferred, the singing may be given in every instance 
by all the girls, instead of by different individuals. 



Sunday Evening Exercises. 



XIII. — THREE- MINUTE SERMONS FOR 
CHILDREN. 

Davenport, Iowa. 
(Reprinted by permission.) 
i. The Children's Church. 

2. A Good Name Spoiled. 

3. Lessons from a Bonfire. 

4. The Weather. 

5. Right Side Up. 

6. Giving. 

7. The Snow. 

8. Death. 

337 



238 Entertainments, 



THE CHILDREN'S CHURCH. 

" But Jesus said : Suffer little children, and forbid them 
not to come unto me, for of such is the kingdom of heaven." 
— Matthew 19 : 14. 

This is one of the texts which we have chosen 
to write upon our children's church, and as a good 
number of you are to join the children's church 
within a few days, I want, this morning, to tell 
you some things that your church means. 

Three years ago there were about twenty boys 
and girls in the congregation who loved Jesus 
Christ, and whom I thought I would help by form- 
ing a children's church. So I got printed this 
sheet, which should tell what is meant by such a 
church. Let me read it : 

children's church, davenport. 

The foundation on which we build. John 3:16. 
The promise given us. Matthew, 19: 14. 
Our Confession. I love Jesus. 

Our Faith. I trust in Jesus as my own precious Saviour. 
Our Repenta7ice. I will try, by the help of Jesus, to give 
up everything sinful. 

Our Hope. I want to be more like Jesus every day. 
Our Worship. Daily prayer and reading the Bible. Lov- 
ing everybody. Trying to be good. 

Meetings in our Church, once a month. 



Sunday Evening Exercises. 239 

Now, if you knew all that older people do about 
the truths and doctrines of religion, }^ou would see 
that this paper has all in it that there is in the 
older people's belief — that is, all that is needed to 
make you good Christians. And some of you 
may say : " Why not have us children all join the 
real church, then ? " I would be glad to have most 
of you do it ; but I have seen that before men 
plant out trees where they are to stay until they 
die, they have them grow awhile in what is called 
a nursery, and when the little trees are large 
enough, and straight enough, and strong enough, 
to be dug up and placed on the lawn, they are 
established for life. 

Now, nearly all who made up the children's 
church three years ago are in their father's and 
mother's church to-day ; and, meanwhile, a large 
number of younger ones have come along, and 
they need to have the children's church started 
again. 

Now, what help will it be to any of my young 
friends to join this little church ? 

First. You will have the same pastor that 
the other church has. If it is worth while for the 
older people to have a minister, it is certainly best 
that children should. We compare people to 
sheep, sometimes, and I think men and women are 
quite like sheep in many ways. If that is so, chil- 
dren are like lambs, and I guess a good farmer is 



240 Entertainments. 

more careful of his lambs than he is of the older 
sheep. 

I have compared people to trees, and I have 
heard as the twig is bent, so is the tree inclined. 
If I should live to be pastor of this church twenty 
years more, some of you children would be my 
deacons and trustees — pillars in the church, as 
people call them — so, if I would have straight, 
strong pillars, I must keep you straight now. 
What a hard task it is to take crooked sticks and 
make fair timber of them ; but if we can only 
have them straight to begin with, we can save a 
deal of trouble, and get better results. 

My idea of what Christ meant when He said, 
"Suffer little children," etc., is that he wanted to 
have boy and girl Christians to make the best men 
and women Christians of. And this leads me to 
say, in the second place, that you have the same 
Saviour that the older church has. 

I think one of the strangest notions that ever 
got agoing was that boys and girls all belonged to 
Satan. Why, a leading Christian man in this town 
told me that he did not want his boy to become a 
Christian until he was fourteen or fifteen years 
old. The Bible tells us that we belong either to 
Satan or to God, and I am glad that Jesus said, 
" Suffer little children to come unto me," and gave 
as a reason, " for of such is the kingdom of 
heaven." Jesus is even more tender and loving to 
the children's church than to the grown people's, 



Sunday Evening Exercises. 241 

and I don't wonder, for His heart is like that of 
many a man and woman who will watch, notice, 
and love little children because they are little ; 
other and older people may be hungry, cold, and 
abused, before little children should suffer such 
things. It is bad enough for an old man to be- 
come lame and have to use crutches all his life 
through ; but how much worse for a little boy to 
have his leg wither, and know that he can never 
walk upon it. 

Then, in the third place, members of the chil- 
dren's church have the same kind of work to do 
that members of the large church do. Any one 
who belongs to either of the churches agrees to 
help others and obey God. We all of us will have 
to work hard to do it. And when a little boy 
brings a quart pail of water from the spring, or 
four sticks of wood from the pile, to save his 
mother steps, or because he would be a useful 
Christian boy, he has done just as good an act as 
the strong man with a pail full of water in each 
hand, or an armful of wood that would break a 
boy's back. 

Then, lastly, children, your little church has the 
same hope that the greater church has. After a 
few years all of us, and after a few days some of 
us, are to go to a better land than this. No one 
can have a home there unless he has trusted in and 
loved Jesus, who is that land's king; and when 
you join your little church you say, and, I hope, 



242 Entertainments. 

feel, that you do trust in that Jesus who is at the 
head of all true churches — yours as much as the 
greatest the world has ever seen. 



ii. 

A GOOD NAME SPOILED. 

" Jeroboam, who made Israel to sin." 2. Kings 10 : 31. 

Did you ever hear of any father or mother call- 
ing their boy Jeroboam ? We know men by the 
names of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Jeremiah, David, 
and the like, and these are, some of them, no more 
pleasantly sounding names than is Jeroboam. 

And when the little boy who had this name was 
named Jeroboam, it was because his parents 
wanted to give him a name that should signify to 
all who knew him how much they hoped from the 
child, for Jeroboam means one who increases his 
people. But so wicked was the life of this man 
that, instead of meaning one who increases his peo- 
ple, we always think of Jeroboam who made his 
people to sin. 

How easy it is for us to spoil a good name. 
When we are babies father and mother hunt all 



Sunday Evening Exercises. 243 

about to find a name good enough for their little 
one. Mother says: "There was my father, the 
best man that ever lived ; his name was Henry ; I 
want the baby called Henry." Father says: "I 
would like to have him called Charles, for my 
classmate in college, who, I am sure is going to 
make his mark as a minister or lawyer." Or, if it 
be a little girl, how are all the names, that nice 
folks have, talked over until the very best is found. 

But suppose that the parents like such a name 
as Frederick, or Frank, or Sarah, or Maud, and 
there should be among their friends or relatives a 
Frederick who was a miserable drunkard, or a 
Frank who had been put in jail, or a Sarah who 
was a great scold, or a Maud who would tell false- 
hoods, the baby would never be called by any of 
these pretty names. 

Now, I suppose some of you do not like the 
names which you have, but one thing is very cer- 
tain, that when you were named you were called 
by the best that father and mother, or some other 
good friend, could think of. 

You were named for some dear relative or ac- 
quaintance, or for some great and good man or 
woman, or for some fancy name, which should 
show how hard your fathers and mothers tried to 
get a name good enough for you. 

You may not have a name that sounds very 
sweetly, nor one that is very great, but you can, if 
you try, make the name that you have the best of 



244 Entertainments. 

all names. I have some friends whom I think a 
great deal of, and their names, such as Samuel, 
and William, and Martin, and Edward, all sound 
very pleasantly to me, although none of the 
names are in themselves very good. Then there 
are some names that- 1 cannot bear, just because 
there are some mean men or women who have 
spoiled them for me. 

Now, what I want of all my young friends, is 
that they shall be such boys and girls as to make 
their names the best and sweetest in all the neigh- 
borhood in which they live, so that the moment any 
one of your friends, by and by, shall hear another 
person called by the same name, they shall at once 
think of you with pleasure. And what is more, I 
want you to feel how dreadful it is to spoil a good 
name ; to have it put on the church book when 
you are baptized that you are to be called after 
some dear friend, some honored acquaintance, and 
then to grow up and make the name the meanest 
and ugliest in all the town. 

There are a few boys and girls who seem to be 
trying very hard to do this. They are like Jero- 
boam, who was to be a helper to his people, but 
really was the one who ruined them by making 
them to sin. I can see more plainly than you can, 
boys and girls, what a dreadful thing it is thus to 
disappoint your best friends and make yourselves a 
disgrace ; and I hope that before it is too late you 
will turn square about and make yourselves 



Sunday Evening Exercises. 245 

worthy of all the love that gave you the names of 
your infancj 7 ". And one thing I want to have you 
all remember, that you do not need to have the 
long and ugly name of Jeroboam in order to 
deserve the dislike and disgust that everyone has 
towards it. Benedict Arnold was a nice name to 
call a boy before he was a traitor — it would be a 
dreadful name now. No man calls his child Cain, 
although it means the same as that sweet name, 
Theodore, God given. No one calls his boy Judas, 
and yet it means the praise of the Lord. 

All of you have precious names, given by your 
dearest friends. Do not be like Jeroboam, who 
made a blessing into a curse. 



in. 

LESSONS FROM A BONFIRE. 

" Many of them, also, which used curious arts, brought their 
books together and burned them before all men; and they 
counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces 
of silver." — Acts 19: 19. m 

This was a great bonfire. It burned up nearly 
ten thousand dollars worth of books, and it was a 



246 Entertainments. 

good thing to do, for the books were bad. They 
were filled with rules by which those who owned 
the books could cheat other people ; and although 
the men who brought them to be burned could 
have made fortune after fortune if they had kept 
and used their books, they would not do it, be- 
cause they had become Christians, and learned 
how very wrong it was to cheat as they had been 
doing, and therefore they made up their minds to 
put the books where they would do nobody any 
more harm. 

There are three lessons that I want to have you 
learn from this, and the first is : That those things 
which can only do harm should be destroyed. 
When a man is taken with the small-pox or yellow 
fever, and dies very suddenly in a fine suit of 
clothes, we should say a friend of his was crazy 
who should take the clothes and wear them 
because they cost a good deal and were nice. If a 
dog that cost fifty or a hundred dollars gets mad, 
he ought to be shot as soon as a gun can be found 
to shoot him. If a boy gives you a book that is 
written by wicked men, who want the boys and 
girls of America to be bad, like themselves, the 
very best thing that you can do with it is to burn 
it. Once in awhile there are books with filthy 
reading and pictures passed around at school, and 
no matter how much they cost, any clean boy or 
girl should, the very first thing, coax the scholar 
who has the books to burn them. Then there are 



Sunday Evening Exercises. i\*j 

other books that try to make people believe that 
there is no God, that the Bible is not true, that 
Christians are bad people, and when anyone gives 
you such a book, you may be very sure that the 
wisest thing you can do is to put it in the fire, 
where it cannot do you or anyone else harm. 

Another lesson to be learned is, that we ought 
to care more for right than for money. When I 
go down town, and catch a word or two from the 
different people whom I meet or pass, I find that 
nearly all are talking about how to make money. 
We all have to have money to buy our food and 
clothes, and the other things that we need. And 
I suppose all of you children will have to spend 
many years of your lives in trying to get money. 
But there is one thing to learn at the beginning, 
and that is, that there is something better than 
money ■ — it is to be right. I hope there is not a 
boy here who will ever grow up so anxious to get 
rich that he will be ready to sell rum or whisky, 
to keep a saloon ; nor any other that will be ready 
to tell a lie so as to sell anything, as some men do 
who tell* us that sugar is pure when they know 
there is sand in it, or plaster, or starch ; that milk 
is clear when it is half water. When you grow 
older you will find that the world is full of men 
and women who care only to make money, nothing 
for right, and you will be tempted to do as they 
do, but I hope you will dare to do the right every 
time. 



248 Entertainments. 

The last lesson to be learned is, that when we 
become Christians we shonld give up our bad prac- 
tices. What if these men had said to themselves : 
" Now if I keep these books, and use them, I can 
make two or three thousand dollars every year, 
and then I can take the money and pay for Paul's 
journey, or send Timothy off as a missionary." 
Do you suppose Jesus would have been pleased ? 
You know He would not. So you know that He 
is not pleased with any of you who think that you 
will hold on to your pet sins while you pretend to 
be Christians. Any of you girls who used to peep 
into your books so as to recite well, now that you 
are Christians, will leave the wicked habit. Any 
of you who used to love to tease your playmates 
when they had made mistakes or gotten into 
trouble, will be very careful not to hurt their feel- 
ings or wrong them in any way when you are 
Christ's. 

In a word, I want to feel that all the boys and 
girls, young men and women, who are growing up 
here as Christians, are in earnest ; that they hate 
the bad, love the right, and are willing to give up 
the best things they have rather than not to be 
Christ's. And you may be sure that you can hold 
on to everything that will make you truly happy, 
great, and good, while you hold on to Jesus. 



Sunday Evening Exercises. 249 



IV. 

THE WEATHER. 

" Who can stay the bottles of heaven ? " — Job 38 : 37 

In the Bible lands water was often very scarce, 
and hence very precious, and whenever it was 
necessary to save it to use on a long journey, or for 
any other reason, it was generally kept in bottles. 
These bottles, so-called, were made of the skins of 
animals, especially of the goat, and usually were, 
when filled, just the shape of the live animal with 
the head and feet cut off, and when the people 
wished to empty the skins they laid them on their 
sides and let the water run out. 

It was this custom which led him who spoke 
the words of the text to ask, " Who can keep the 
water in the bottles of the heavens ? " as often in 
poetry, like our text, such comparisons are made. 
Now, during the past week, it has seemed as 
though the bottles of heaven had been open nearly 
all the time, and I am afraid some of you children 
have grumbled about it, for children do not like 
rainy weather, and hence I have thought it a good 
plan to-day to find an answer to the question asked 
in our text, and then, perhaps, learn that it is not 
best to complain of the weather. 



250 Entertainments, 

How does rain come ? I . will tell you one way, 
for there are many. When the wind blows from 
the southeast it comes from a warmer country 
than ours, and is often filled with moisture. As 
long as the wind is warm it can carry this moist- 
ure through the sky, and no one can see it at all, 
but if, in its journey north, it meets some colder 
air, and begins to get cold, it cannot hold the 
moisture as well, and so it forms clouds. Then, 
after a little, as the air grows still colder, the wind 
is less able to hold the moisture, the bottles are 
open, and down comes the rain. 

Now, who made the moist wind come from the 
south ? Was it not God ? And He made it meet 
the cold wind, which squeezed the clouds as you 
would squeeze a wet sponge, and He made the 
rain to fall. When, therefore, we have stormy 
weather, we will remember — 

First. God makes it rain. He knows when it 
is needed, and sends it to keep the ground wet 
enough to make the trees, plants, and flowers 
grow. So that one who complains of the weather 
is finding fault with God. 

Second. We do not know when it ought to 
begin or to stop raining. Two years ago, if you 
had watched men digging post holes or cellars, 
you would have seen that the ground, three or 
four feet down, was as dry as ashes, and if you 
had gone out into the country you would have 
learned that the springs were dry, and there was 



Sunday Evening Exercises. 251 

very little water in the wells ; and. yet there was 
rain enough to make the corn grow, and the roads 
were very nice, and we were glad that it rained so 
little. But because there was no more rain the 
trees had nothing for their leaves and roots to 
drink, and so very many of them have died. 
Then, last year it rained a great deal, and every- 
body grumbled at the mud, and the clouds, and 
the storms, and all the while God was getting the 
ground ready to give us such a fruitful season this 
year as we have not had for a long time. And 
now, if this fall it rains again, remember that God 
knows better than you and I do how much the 
trees need to drink, and how much rain it will 
take to keep the springs full and keep the wells 
from drying up. 

Third, We should remember that, if the rain 
comes when we are not ready for it, our little 
plans are of very little account. You don*t like 
to put on your rubbers and -old clothes to go to 
school ; you wish it would not rain while school 
keeps. Surely, you would not want it to rain 
Saturday, nor all vacation ; and your father, if he 
keeps store, don't want it to rain Saturday, either, 
for that is the best day for people to come in from 
'the country to trade. Then I come in and say : 
" I think it is bad to have it rain Sundays, for 
there are so many men and women who seem to 
feel that a Sunday rain is the wettest of all rains, 
and that it will wash them away if they go out in 



252 Entertainments. 

it." So all the time that it can rain and suit 
everybody is nights, and then, how muddy the 
roads would be every day ; that would displease 
everybody, and by the time you had everybody 
suited before the rain should come, it would not 
come at all. 

Suppose there should be a vote taken : the min- 
ister votes against Sunday, the wash-woman Mon- 
day, the hay-makers Tuesday, a picnic Wednesday, 
those who want to go to prayer meeting Thursday, 
the temperance celebration Friday, the merchant 
Saturday. I rather think, children, that we had 
better let the rain bottles alone, and when God 
sees fit to have the rain come feel that He knows 
best, that it is better to have His great plans car- 
ried out than our little ones ; and more than all, 
we should not allow a little mud, or the trouble of 
drying clothes, or an uncomfortable feeling in here 
when it is cloudy or stormy, to lead us to find 
fault with Him who is so kind as to send His rain 
on the unthankful as well as the thankful. 



Sunday Evening Exercises. 253 



T. 

RIGHT SIDE UP. 

" These that have turned the world upside down are come 
hither also." — Acts 17:9. 

It was an easy thing to have a mob in old times. 
There were always big boys loafing about, or lewd 
fellows of the baser sort, as Luke calls them, who 
were ready for mischief, and when they begun a 
disturbance no man could tell where it would end. 
Some of these men seized hold of the man Jason, 
in Thessalonica, because he had let a travelling min- 
ister stop at his house, and had taken him, with 
some others, to the city officers, saying, " that the 
men who turned the world upside down had come ; " 
and what they charged was true, for, in the first 
place, the world is wrong side up. I mean by this 
that if we let things go along of themselves the bad 
gets the better of the good. Let a piece of land lie 
still and it will grow up to weeds. If you do not 
take great care of it, a machine becomes rusty and 
useless. I have never seen a boy or girl who did 
not grow worse and worse unless they kept watch- 
ing themselves very closely. It is so much more 
easy to go down hill than to climb up, to say yes 
than no, when we want to do wrong. The world 
is wrong side up. 



254 Entertainments. 

Then, second, there are a great many who are 
trying to keep the wrong side up, like these roughs 
of Thessalonia. There are boys, and girls too, who 
seem to like nothing better than to be doing that 
which they ought not, disobeying father and moth- 
er, bothering brother and sister, getting into mis- 
chief everywhere ; and then, when they grow up, if 
anybody tries to save them, saying that they want 
to be let alone. There is a young man in this city. 
I have seen him come out of saloons now and then ; 
he has a most beautiful wife, and how dark the 
future is before her, because he is a slave to drink I 
A minister thought he would try and save him ; 
spoke to him kindly. The young man looked up 
and said : " Well, sir, how long have you been in 
Davenport ? " " Three years," answered the minis- 
ter. " I have been here twice as long as you ; if 
you will attend to your business, I will attend to 
mine," said the young man. He wanted to have 
the world stay wrong side up, just as all the other 
wicked men do who are not ready to give up their 
sins. 

But I notice, in the third place, that God wants 
to have the world put upside down. Of course He 
does, for He wants to see things as they should be, 
and to be right everything should be right side up. 

You would think it very foolish to try and bring 
a basket of apples home from the grocery, handle 
downward; to fasten horses to. a carriage that had 
tipped over without righting it. 



Sunday Evening Exercises. 255 

God knows what it is to have things as they 
should be, and when He sees them wrong, wants 
them made right ; and when He sees any of you 
thinking that it is smarter to be unkind than kind, 
rough than gentle, impure than pure, untrue than 
true, to stay away from Sunday-school and church 
than to go regularly to them, He knows that you 
are wrong side up, and wants to make you right. 

And one thing more : you all should belong to the 
company of those who are putting the upside down. 
This is what all good people are trying to do. Your 
parents keep talking to you, trying with all their 
power to keep under all that is bad and bring the 
good to the top ; your teacher is putting ignorance 
and laziness down, and learning and studiousness 
up ; the church is working all the time to help all 
overcome the evil and make strong the right. So 
I want you to join the company of those who are 
turning the world upside down. Commence with 
yourself, and instead of doing that which is easier, 
work away at yourself until you have put at the 
bottom all that is mean or ugly, and in any way 
wrong, and put at the top all that is beautiful, and 
true, and good. Then, when you have clone this, 
you can help others to right themselves. 

Once in a while there is a tornado that goes across 
our prairies and tips over everything, and he is the 
most useful and best man who goes at once to work 
and sets up everything on his own farm, and also 
helps his neighbors who need his help. 



256 Entertainments. 

The whole world is full of boys and girls who 
need you to help them to be right side up ; and I 
can tell you that when you get through life, if you 
have worked hard to keep straight yourself, and 
helped others to keep straight, nothing you could 
have done could have made you happier than to 
know that you belonged to the number who are 
trying to turn the world upside down. 

The poor world has turned its face away from the 
sun, and it is very, very dark in the' shadow. Let 
us all work with a will to turn it back towards the 
sun, and in turning it upside down get it right side 
up. 



VI. 

GIVING. 

" Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift." — 2 Cor. 
9: 15. 

I have heard of a minister who, every morning, 
used to go to his outside door, and looking up 
toward the sky, say, " Thank you." Perhaps he 
felt as Paul when he wrote : " He that spared 
not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, 
how shall He not with Him also freely give us all 
things?" And so, every day the sunshine or the 



Sunday Evening Exercises. 257 

rain, the wind or the calm, was just the best thing 
for that day, and reminded him always of that 
Saviour through whom all good gifts come, and 
who is Himself the unspeakable gift. 

You have all had a great many things given you, 
and sometimes when I visit your homes you show 
me what has been given you and tell me all about 
it, and I like to have you. But there are some of 
you who have received a gift that is unspeakable, 
that is, it is so great that no words can describe it. 

But you have all heard that actions speak louder 
than words, and in the chapter of which my text 
is the last verse, Paul has told of a kind of actions 
that do tell whether people are Christians — have 
received the unspeakable gift. It is Christian giv- 
ing. 

There are some poor people in a far-off city 
whom the people to whom Paul wrote had promised 
to help ; they had promised a great deal, and Paul 
says that they must not only give it, but give it 
cheerfully, and if they do they will not only make 
the poor thankful, but will in that way express their 
thanks to God for His great gift. 

I have seen a little girl have a present of a large 
orange : she likes oranges very much ; she eats this 
very eagerly, for she has not had any for a long 
time ; but before eating it she cuts out and lays 
aside a portion for some poor child who does not 
have any oranges. And I am very sure that were I 
the one who gave that little girl the orange, I should 



258 Entertainments. 

know that she was thankful, not merely because 
she said "thank you," but because she desired 
herself to make another as happy as I had tried to 
make her; and don't you think I would be right in 
so thinking ? 

In old times God made a rule that all the people 
should give a tenth and more to show their thank- 
fulness, and there are some now-a-days who do this. 
I spent a Sunday, once, in a rich man's house. He 
was making a great deal of money. Did he live in 
a very large, nice house? No, he had a neat, com- 
fortable home. Did he have a handsome carriage 
and pair of bay horses ? No, he had a plain car- 
riage, and the horse was so homely and ugly-look- 
ing that when I rode out with his son to see the 
asylum where insane people are kept, one of the 
crazy women knew enough to see how ugly it was, 
but did not know enough to keep from laughing 
about it, and making fun, so loud that we all heard 
her. Did he have costly things to eat and wear? 
No, he lived and dressed very plainly. And why 
was all this ? He wanted to show God how thank- 
ful he was for His unspeakable gift, and so he gave 
away all that he could earn, and it was thousands 
of dollars a year, to buy food and clothes for the 
hungry and naked, and to furnish the gospel to 
those who had never heard it. 

Now, I suppose that the reason why we do not 
do more to make others happy, and to make them 
good, is because we do not feel thankful for what 



Sunday Evening Exercises. 259 

God lias given us. I am told that little boys and 
girls in heathen lands, when they become Chris- 
tians, give a great deal to those that need. They 
know what an awful thing it is to live in a land with- 
out Christ, what an unspeakable gift it is to have 
Jesus. And I hope that you will all learn, first of 
all, what a precious thing it is to have Jesus as 
your own Saviour, and then show Him how thank- 
ful you are by denying yourselves to help others 
who need your help. 

There are many things besides money that you 
can give, although I think you all ought to learn 
early to earn, save, and give your little moneys. 
You can give a kind word to a pkiymate who never 
hears kind words at home ; j^ou can give a helping 
hand to mother who is tired, or your brother who 
is small ; you can give sunshine to all who see you, 
and if you do these things because you are Chris- 
tians, and want to do what you can to please Christ, 
you are, by your deeds, thanking God for his un- 
speakable gift. 



2 6 o Entertainments. 

VII. 

THE SNOW. 

" Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow ? " 
— Job. 38 : 22. 

Children feel that snow is sent for their special 
benefit, and how they clap their hands at the first 
snow-flakes in the late fall ! This winter has been 
a remarkable one for children, because there has 
been so much snow, and I have thought that the 
best subject that I could choose for your sermon 
would be the snow, and what the Bible tells 
about it. 

Job says : " If I wash myself with snow-water, 
and make my hands never so clean, yet mine own 
clothes should abhor me." The water in the coun- 
try where Job lived was much of it hard, and 
would not clean things as soft water and melted 
snow can. I have seen boys and girls living in 
like countries ; it seemed as though they never 
had clean faces, much less clean hands ; and it was 
a mercy when the rain or snow came, making soft 
water. But there are some things that the softest 
water cannot wash clean — the stains of sin, the 
stains upon our souls ; and any of you who have 
said unkind, untruthful, unclean words, have such 
stains upon your souls, and there is nothing on 
earth that can wash them out. I know that there 



Sunday Evening Exercises. 261 

are a great many people who say that children are 
pure and good, that they have no marks of sin 
upon them. God does not think so. He is so 
pure that the least sin looks black to Him. When 
the sun came out last Thursday morning, after the 
great storm, and the world was spotless, how dingy 
the white houses and fences looked. Paint that 
we called white before, became smoky and dirty. 
Just so, children who think they are good, and 
kind, and pure, and loving, can learn by putting 
themselves alongside of the spotless Jesus that 
they are stained, needing to be cleansed. 

But there is another snow text that should go 
with the one that I have just read ; you will find 
it in Isaiah. It is a verse that your fathers and 
mothers like to hear, a most precious verse ; 
" Come, now, and let us reason together, saith the 
Lord ; though your sins be as scarlet they shall be 
white as snow." This is a promise from the 
mouth of God, and although there is nothing in 
the world that can wash out the stain of any sin, 
God has found a way to wash out the stains of the 
worst sins. And there are some of you, children, 
who know what this means; you feel sure that 
God has cleansed you from all sin. You all love 
to sing the precious hymn from the Gospel Songs : 

"What ! lay my sins on Jesus, 
God's well beloved Son ! 
No ! 'tis a truth most precious 
That God e'en that has done." 



262 Entertainments. 

And how the chorus does ring out : 

" Hallelujah ! Jesus saves me, 
He makes me white as snow." 

And there is nothing more delightful than to 
feel that God will help us keep ourselves pure as 
snow, and I trust that every day we shall keep this 
snow-white life as pure and clean as it can be. 
You are not to do this by sitting still and doing 
nothing, but by all the time trying to do right, 
good, pure, true deeds. 

By and by you will learn in school that white 
light, like the snow, contains in it all the colors of 
the rainbow ; that a ray of white light is made up 
of blue, red, yellow, and the like. So I think that 
the white robes which God gives us, white as 
snow, are kept white by uniting all the beautiful 
colors — there is the blue, which is the color of 
the modest violet, telling us to be humble, the red 
of the rose, by which others are made glad, the 
yellow of the cowslip, of use in the meadow, tell- 
ing us how to be helpful, and so on, until putting 
together prayer, kind words, thoughtful acts, trust 
in Christ, all these beautiful virtues, we can, with 
God's help, keep from stain the robe, white as 
snow, given us by our Father in heaven, through 
Jesus Christ, His Son. 



Sunday Evening Exercises. 263 



Till. 

DEATH. 

" She is not dead, but sleepeth." — Luke 8 : 52. 

This was spoken of a little girl twelve years old. 
Her friends all supposed that she was dead. They 
were right ; she was soon to be buried. Jesus came, 
and, knowing that she was dead, said, in the words 
of your text, " She is not dead, but sleepeth." 
What did He mean? He wanted to have the 
friends know that He thought that they had a 
wrong idea of death, and wrong feelings in regard 
to it ; and in the sense in which they spoke and 
thought of death, the little girl was not dead. 

Now, there have been a large number of deaths 
during the last few weeks, and I can see that many 
of the people in town are thinking wrongly of 
death, and therefore I want to say a few words to 
you about it, for I am quite sure that Jesus had the 
right idea, and so long as it is true that half of the 
graves in Oakdale are children's graves, I am very 
anxious to have you think and feel as you should 
concerning death. 

It is a blessed thing to go to sleep, when we are 
tired out and can drop to sleep in an instant. 
Sometimes we wish we could have more time to 



264 Entertainments. 

play, but when the hour of sleep comes, how 
sweetly it takes us in its arms, and nothing is 
more beautiful than a sleeping child. And it was 
only a few days ago that I saw a little child who 
had been suffering day after day, die, and only in 
a few moments such a sweet smile came upon her 
lips, and I could not help saying, " How sweetly 
she sleeps." 

The next thing for you to remember is, that 
those who go to sleep wake up. When you have 
been to school six hours, and have helped mother 
at home, and have played very hard all the spare 
moments, you begin to find it very hard to hold up 
your head, and nothing seems bright and pleasant ; 
but in the morning, when the sun looks in at the 
window, and says, " My little man, or little woman, 
it is time to get up," how bright the world looks ; 
how strong and happy you feel ; how very differ- 
ent from the way in which you felt the night be- 
fore. So when any of us are put to sleep by Jesus, 
we can know that there is a morning coming, and 
when that has come we shall be so strong, and 
beautiful, and happy, that the night of our sleep 
will seem to have been very short. But I hear 
some little child say, " I do not want to go to sleep 
in the ground; I do not want to be put in a 
coffin ; " and you need not. Once in a while my 
little girl says, " Papa, I don't want to go to bed 
up stairs; " she does not want to be alone, so her 
mother allows her to make her bed upon the lounge 



Simday Evening Exercises. 265 



in the bright sitting-room. At length she falls 
asleep ; then, when I am through with my studies, 
I carry her to her bed, and she knows nothing of 
the dark night nor the lonely room. In the same 
way no child of yon will ever know anything 
about the grave or coffin, if you have to be buried 
in them. You fall asleep at home, and when you 
wake, if you are Christ's, you awake in a better 
home. 

But another thing, we all grow when we are 
asleep. The reason why some children do not grow 
more is because they do not have sleep enough. A 
few months ago a farmer's boy put a kernel of corn 
in the ground ; you could pinch it between your 
little fingers, or hold a hundred kernels in your 
hand ; but when the corn slept it grew, and to-day 
it has become a tall stalk, with full ears and long 
rows of kernels. So, if a little child's body is 
taken to the cemetery and left sleeping, it will not 
be very long, as God counts time, before it will 
come forth in heaven a most beautiful body, worthy 
to live in the beautiful land. 

And once again : do you not sometimes dream 
when you are asleep ? What does this mean ? That 
your mind is awake, waiting for your refreshed 
body in the morning. So when you put the body 
to sleep in the grave, it is not the soul sleeping ; 
that has gone to be with Jesus whom he loved, and 
as you all know that the soul is the most precious 
thing you have, you should remember, when you 



266 Entertainments. 

put the body away, it is like laying aside the rough 
soil that holds a jewel, until the Master can fashion 
it, and place it in a beautiful casket. All we have 
to do when death conies, is to say, " Now I lay me 
down to sleep, I pray Thee, Lord, my soul to 
keep." 



B EAUTY AND THE BEAST 

OR, 

Handsome Is That Handsome Does. 



A LITTLE PLAY, IN THREE SCENES. 

TO BE ACTED BY CHILDREN. 
By SUSAN HALE. 



CHARACTERS. 

Beauty. Merchant. 

1st Sister. Beast. 

2nd Sister. Two voices behind the 

SCENES. 

Beauty. This must be played by a little girl, as a little 
girl, with a short dress and long braids, in the first scene, 
and with the manners of a spoiled child. In the second scene 
she wears a grown-up dress, but must manage it awkward- 
ly, as if she were wearing it for the first time. Her dress 
in the third scene is the same, with a bo7inet and parasol. 

Two Proud Sisters. 27iese two characters are much 
alike ; they must be played as two disagreeable young 
ladies, with grown-up long dresses, and a great ma?iy airs. 
These parts should, however ; be quietly acted, and without 
any pushing or rudeness. 

Merchant. This part is the most difficult one ; and if 
some condescending grown persofi of nineteen or even thirty 
will represent it, the piece will go off all the better. It 
should seem to be a fussy old ge?itleman, dressed for travel- 
ling, with a shawl or large colored handkerchief round his 
throat and a great-coat and umbrella. The same costume 
will do for the last scene. 

Beast. The only difficulty with this part is that it is 
a very warm as well as an ardent 07ie. The Beast must 
be dressed like a gentleman of the nineteenth century under- 
neath, but must wear over this a fur coat, if possible, or a 
coat lined with fur, the lining turned outward ; he must 

268 



Beauty and the Beast. 269 

have fur gloves, and a beasfs head, either obtained from a 
toy-shop on purpose or manufactured ingeniously at home. 
In the days when bonnets were bonnets, and had crowns, a 
felt or beaver bonnet put on" hind-side before," with a red 
tongue hanging out, was effective. But those simple days 
are over and ingenuity has given way to extravagance, 
sometimes to the loss of the audience ; for the freshness and 
originality which necessity taught to invention, were often 
more amusing than the realistic accuracy which can be pro- 
duced from a u furnishing establishment." 

In the garden scene, the disguise of the Beast must be 
firmly fastened on, but in the last scene it must be loosely 
arranged so that it can be suddenly thrown off and reveal 
the Prince. 

And now one word to the little actors aud actresses before 
they begin to learn their parts. The great secret of good 
acting is unconsciousness, that is, you must forget yourself 
and your own way, and try and make yourself feel like the 
character you are representing. Beauty must not be won- 
dering how she looks, or whether people will praise her, 
but must try and behave just like a little girl whose papa 
gives her to a beast. And the Beast must act as he thitiks 
a good kind beast would be likely to do. 

Another thing is to help along the scene by watching all 
the time, to be sure you are in the right places, not in 
order to show yourself off, bwt to give the scene the effect 
of a real conversation going on. It is not the vain and 
conceited boys and girls who dress themselves tip and seize 
the best parts who make in the end the best actors : but 
those who try to do any part that is given them so well as 
to improve the general effect of the whole. If you are only 
a sheep in a farm scene, and baa in the right place, you 



270 Entertainments. 

will add more to the pleasure of the audience than if you 
talk and call down their attention upon yourself in the 
wrong one. 



Scene I. — Merchanfs house. Any parlor will do, 
with very little change of furniture. Proud sister, before a 
looking glass trying on a dress. This can be an old party 
dress covered with flounces a?id flowers, put on over the 
other dress. 

Beauty, sitting on the floor, playing with a doll, blocks, 
toys, etc. , scattered about her: 

1st Sister. " Can't you pinch it up a little in 
the neck? It don't look right." 

2d Sister. " Your neck is so long, no dress can 
come within a mile of it." 

1st Sister. " I have a great mind to take out 
the sleeves entirely. That would make it more 
stylish." 

2d Sister. " What ! after spending money on 
all that lace to put on them ? " 

1st Sister, " Hitch it, up a little more behind." 

Beauty. " You are having a great deal of trouble 
with that dress. I should think you would be 
sorry Aunt Maria gave it to you." 

2d Sister. " If she had given it to me, I could 
have worn it just as it was." 

1st Sister. " Shut up, Beauty, and attend to 
your dolls. It was my turn to have whatever 
came from Aunt Maria." 



Beauty and the Beast. 271 

2d Sister. " Well, fix it yourself, for I'm tired 
of standing up," 

[Throws herself down on a sofa, and takes up a news- 
paper. 1st Sister goes on pulling at the dress and fussing 
over it at the looking glass.] 

2d Sister. " Oh dear ! I wonder when father 
will come home. (Reads.*) 'Steamers arrived.' 
Who knows whether he'll come in a Cunard or a 
White Star?" 
1st Sister. " He may come overland." 
Beauty. "I think he said he should come by 
the Air-line." 

2d Sister. "Well, I hope he will come soon, 
for I'm dying for my piano." 

Beauty. " Oh, sister ! did you ask for a piano ? " 

2c? Sister. "Yes, I did, of course, why not? 

he said for us to choose just what we liked best. 

I told him a Steinway Grand, but I shan't object 

if it is only an upright." 

. 1st Sister. " Yes, and Beauty asked for only a 
rose ! So affected ; as if we should not put in for 
exactly what we wanted. For my part, the only 
trouble was to think what, and I've written him 
seventeen times to change my mind." 

Beauty. " Why, what did you ask for, sister ? " 

1st Sister. " Oh ! first I thought a saddle-horse, 

and then I thought what a fool to have a horse and 

not any habit, so then I said a riding habit, from 

Worth." 



272 Entertainments. 

Beauty, \ "But you can't have but one 

U Sister. \ thing ! ! " 

1st Sister. " I know it, so I took them both 
back and said finally, a Saratoga trunk, full of 
clothes from Paris." 

2d Sister. " Oh ! how mean ! that's ever so 
many more than one thing ! " 

1st Sister. "No, it's not. In Paris now they 
have them all ready-made and packed." 

2d Sister. "I wonder you did not ask for a 
whole elephant." 

1st Sister. " I dare say it's no harder to get 
than a rose ! ' Only a rose ! ' " 

ls * ,v; ( ,^o a.^w,wa {"Only a rose! 



f » 



a rose ! " 



2d Sisters (repeating). J u Qnl ^ 

Beauty (almost crying). "I don't care! a 
rose was just what I wanted. I've just learned 
how to make rose-cakes and do them up in a 
paper, and you put brown sugar in them, and bury 
them in the ground, or put them under the bed- 
post, which is better, because the ants don't get at 
them ; but what's the use, if I had not any rose, 
and I knew papa would get one for me, even if it 
was winter, in some menagerie." 

1st Sister. " You mean Conservatory- The 
child is almost a fool." 

2cL Sister. " Well, don't nag her ; it saves 
bother to hear her want nothing but a rose." 

[ Noise heard without, galloping like horses, cracking of 
whips, cries of Whoa ! Whoa ! All rush to the window.] 



Beauty and the Beast. 27.3 

All (at once). " It's papa, he's come home. It's 
papa ! " 

Beauty. " In an express cart ! " 

Is* Sister. " With my trunk ! " 

2d Sister. " And piano behind ! " 

All (at once). " Two carts ! " 

Beauty. " Dear papa ! I'll go and meet him 
and show him my woolly dog." 

[Takes toy from floor, hastily, and goes out. The sisters 
continue looking out of the window '.] 

1st Sister. " Oh, my ! There's my trunk ! See 
the men lifting it out." 

2d Sister. " Oh, what a bother they are hav- 
ing ! That's more than a Saratoga. It's a Sara- 
togera." 

1st Sister. " Oh, pshaw I Don't pun — hullo, 
papa ! " 

[She turns round slowly and extends hand. Enter 
Merchant ; Beauty behind him, feeling in his pockets.] 

1st Sister (indifferently). " How'do, papa ! 
Had a nice time ? " 

2d Sister (equally cool). "Got back, papa 
dear ? " (Turns her cheek to be kissed.) 

[Merchant takes off his hat and wipes his forehead with 
a large ba?idana handkerchief. He stands in the middle 
of the stage with timbrella and hat in his hand. ] 

Merchant. " Oh, my children ! " 



274 Entertainments. 

[ Beauty places chair for him in the middle and kneels 
by his side. He sits. Sisters group behind, standing. ] 

Beauty. " Did you have a good journey, papa ?" 
Sisters (together'). " Did you bring our things ? " 

[ Tremendous thumping outside."] 

2d Sister (aside to 1st Sister). " It's the piano ! " 
1st Sister (aside to 2d Sister). "No, it's my 
trunk." 

Merchant. " Yes, my love ; but oh, my chil- 
dren ! " 

[He wraps his head in his handkerchief and weeps audi- 
bly. Hat and umbrella fall. Beauty picks them up] 

Beauty. " Did you forget about the rose ? no 
matter, dear papa " — 

Merchant (springing up). " Oh, the rose ! I 
was sitting on it, it is in my pocket." 

Voice at the door. " Where shall we put the 
pianner? " 

2d voice at the door. " Is the trunk to go further 
up?" 

Merchant. " Oh, yes ! oh ! I had forgotten ; my 
daughters, there are your gifts, — but, oh ! my chil- 
dren, my children ! (Sits down again on pocket, 
overcome by grief.) 

1st Sister (aside). "Why don't he give some 
directions to the men ? " 



Beauty and the Beast. 275 

2d Sister. " Why don't he present us with the 
things, and then we could thank him and be done 
with it!" 

1st and 2d Sisters. " Well, papa ! Are those our 
tilings ? " 

Beauty. " Speak, papa. Don't take on so ! " 

Merchant. "Yes, my daughters, there is the 
piano., and there is the trunk. I hear them coming 
up-stairs. Take them, they are yours ; and here is 
the rose." 

[Draws out rose from his pocket, pinned up in a good deal 
of cotton-wool. It may be a large full-blown artificial 'one."] 

Beauty. "Oh, papa, it is a lovely rose ! " 

Merchant. " But oh, my children ! (Again 
overcome by grief.) 

1st Sister. " Come along, sister." 

2d Sister. " Oh, bother, we can't wait ! " (Ex- 
eunt.) 

Beauty. " Papa, what is the matter ; are you 
hungry ? Can't I get you anything ? " 

Merchant. " Oh, no, my dear ! I have had my 
meals very regular. It is not that, but oh, my 
children ! (Handkerchief again.) 

Beauty. " Brace up, papa ! Sisters have gone 
to look at their things. 

Thumping again outside and Sisters speaking, saying, 
" in here" " up-stairs" etc. 

Merchant. " All that is well, but why, why, 



276 Entertainments. 

my child, did you come to meet me ? Alas ! alas ! " 

\He must continually interrupt himself to weep ; but 1 
shall not write it down any more^\ 

Beauty. " Begin at the beginning, papa ; I know 
it-will make you feel better." 

Merchant. " Very true, my dear. My busi- 
ness, which I went for, prospered very well. I suc- 
ceeded in exchanging my government bonds for 
railroad stock, and in watering my Calumet and 
Hecla, although " — 

Beauty. " Yes, papa, but I don't mind so very 
much about that." 

Merchant. " Oh, no ! Oh, no ! Very well, my 
dear; well, I telegraphed before I left home for 
your sisters' things, and the}?- have been down at 
my store waiting ever since, for I thought it would 
be better for us all to arrive together ; but the rose, 
the rose ; alas, my children " — 

Beauty. " Oh, why did I ask for a rose ? 

\Enter Proud Sisters.] 

1st Sister. " Yes, why indeed ! just to be af- 
fected." 

2d Sister. " Don't interrupt him, he is just get- 
ting to the point." 

Merchant. " Yes, my daughters, and it is very 
sharp, indeed." 

Two Sisters. " Very good, papa, now go on." 

Merchant. " The only place of any importance 



Beauty and the Beast. 277 

at which I stopped, for I took a through train, was 
the Desert of Sahara. The hotels are very good 
there now; they have almost every thing brought 
by Simoom, which also takes the place of the tel- 
egraph ; but I didn't see any thing in the way of a 
rose. Oh, my children ! My idea of course was to 
look for an oasis, but the nearest I came to it was 
a Carmelite nun I saw in the street." 

Two Sisters. " Oh, a sister ! Very good, papa, 
now go on." 

Merchant. " Till one day I read an advertise- 
ment in the local paper of Promenade Gardens. 
I hastened to the spot. It was Sunday, and there- 
fore shut, but I scrambled through a hole in the 
board fence, and found myself in the enclosure. 
Just the place. It was full of Marshal Neils, Bon 
Sileries, Jacqueminots, tea, moss, musk, tube, and 
prim and other roses. It was in fact an embarras de 
choix." 

1st Sister (aside). " That's French." 
2d Sister (aside). " Result of travel. " 
Merchant. '" Finally I selected this one, (takes 
it from Beauty) which, being artificial, I thought 
more likely to keep. It came off hard, on account 
of the wire, and I was obliged to use my patent 
knife with screw-driver attached before I got it off 
the -branch (gives rose bach). As I succeeded, 
I heard a low growl behind me ! — oh, my chil- 
dren!" 

All. " Oh, don't stop, papa ! " 



278 Entertainments. 

Merchant. " And turning round, I beheld the — 
Proprietor of the Gardens ! " 

All. " Oh, papa ! " 

Merchant. "And oh, my children! What do 
you think he was ? — A BEAST ! " 

[ All shriek. ] 

1st Sister. "What kind of a Beast, papa? 
there are Beasts and Beasts." 

2d Sister. " Don't interrupt ! it's such a bother. 
Go on, papa ! " 

Merchant. " Well, my children, he was the 
very worst kind of a Beast. I have seen Beasts 
in the Zoological Gardens — but I won't describe 
him ; you'll see him soon enough ! " 

All. "See him!" 

Merchant. Yes, and I must be brief. Suffice it 
to say that he was very wroth at my taking the 
rose ; said it was a particular one that he was 
saving for seed. In vain I showed him that it was 
double, and wouldn't have any. All contradiction 
seemed to irritate him farther. At last he said I 
might keep it, on one condition. Oh, my chil- 
dren " — 

All. " Go on, go on, papa ! " 

Merchant. "That, in addition to thirt}^rive 
cents, the regular price for a Jacqueminot, I should 
give him the first thing I met on my return to my 
own house. (Speaking rapidly, as if in a hurry to 
get through.') Of course I thought it would be 
the dog from next door who always is on our front 



Beauty and the Beast, 279 

steps — never occurred to me it would be any- 
thing else, and a good chance to get rid of him. 
So I said, all right, and hastened to catch my train. 
Now, as it is just time for the next from Sahara 
(looking at his watcK) he may be here any minute, 
and — oh, my children " — 

All. " Well, well, papa." 

Merchant. " Don't you see ? don't you under- 
stand ? The first thing I saw was 

BEAUTY I ! " 

[ All shriek. Violent ringing at the door-bell. Growls, 
and a thumping sound on the stairs. Enter at back the 
Beast. 



Tableau. 

Proud Sisters. ) Beast. 

{hands and eyes up- > Merchant {kneeling to Beast), 
lifted). ) Beauty {in a swoon on the floor). 



[ Curtain falls. ] 



280 Entertainments. 



Scene II. — The Garden of the Beast. This can be 
easily represented by movi?ig back all the ?iatural 'furniture 
of the room, and introducing a few pots with plants in 
them. If none are at hand, let all the scenery be the work 
of the imagination. 

Ejiter Beauty, gathering roses. She is now dressed in 
a lo?ig. trailing skirt which she manages awkwardly, and 
her hair is put up on the top of her head: 

Beauty. " Now I can pick all the roses I like. 
I have already a rose-cake under every bed-post. 
What a kind Beast ! He says he only spoke so 
fiercely to papa, in order to get some little girl to 
come and live with him. It seems little girls 
always run to meet their papas first. His voice is 
rather gruff, to be sure, but I'm going to get him 
to try Brown's Bronchial Troches. Oh, here he 
comes. 

Beast (with a very growling voice). "Good 
morning, my dear. Did you sleep well? " 

Beauty. " Oh, yes, splendidly. And when I 
got up I found all these good clothes to put on. 
I have always been longing to wear them long, but 
sisters would not let me." 

Beast. " You are still a child, but a lovely 
one." (Smiles and looks languishing.) 

Beauty. " Oh ! how you do show your teeth ! 
but they are very white. You never eat children 
with them, I suppose ? " 



Beauty aud the Beast. 281 

Beast. " What do you take me for ! I am a veg- 
etarian. No, Beauty dear, I only want some soci- 
ety in my garden, and if you will be happy here, 
it is all I ask." 

[ He crouches down before her. She takes a low seat 
and scratches his head, pats aud pets him. He growls 
melodiously. ] 

Beauty. "Do you know, I think Beasts are 
nicer than people, that is than sisters." 

Beast. " Ah ! those sisters ! they are cross to 
you, are they ? I should like to tear them limb 
from limb." {Grr owing fierce.) 

Beauty. " Oh, no! don't ! you know you are a 
vegetarian." 

Beast. " True. Well, no matter. They can't 
come here to scold you, and you can do just as 
you please all the day long. Did you like, your 
breakfast ? " 

Beauty. " Oh, yes, broiled children and no oat- 
meal." 

Beast. " By the way, there are always peanuts 
in the pockets of all your dresses." 

Beauty. " Are there really ? What a clear 
Beast." 

Beast. " Tell me, Beauty, do you think you can 
be happy in my garden here ? " 

Beauty. " Yes, indeed, perfectly happy." 

Beast. " Is every wish of your heart grati- 
fied ? " 



282 Entertainments. 

Beauty (after reflection*). "Yes, all but just 
oue." 

Beast. "What is that?" 

Beauty. "I only wish sisters could see my good 
clothes." 

Beast (growls). "What do you care for those 
hateful girls ? " 

Beauty. "Besides, there's papa. I know he 
misses me." 

Beast. " Well, well, sometime you shall go 
home to see them. But not to-day. You don't 
want to go to-day ? " 

Beauty. " Oh, no, I have not explored the 
Garden yet." 

Beast. " No, you have not seen the croquet 
ground, nor the monkeys, nor the swing." 

Beauty. "Oh! how lovely — let's go and see 
everything." 

Beast. "Look here, my dear, as the grounds 
are very large, extending, in short, from the Med- 
iterranean Sea across the Equator, you may some- 
time get lost, and not find your way back here to 
the Rose-Garden." 

Beauty. " Oh, dear me ! I'm so sorry I have 
neglected my geography. I never got as far as 
Africa before. But it takes so long to get through 
the United States ! " 

Beast (scratching his head). "That's it. You 
never study the geography of a place until you 
have been there, and then you know it with- 



Beauty and the Beast. 283 

out studying. But as I was saying (taking ring 
from one of his large ears}, that is where I keep 
things, — this ring you can wear always, and 
whenever you want me you have only to turn it 
round and wish for me, and I shall come." 

Beauty. " Would it not be nice if you could 
do that to make some people go away ? " 

Beast. " Yes, but that is harder. Moreover, 
whenever you turn your ring you can wish your- 
self to any place on the time-table — to your 
father's for instance." 

Beauty. " What, without any travelling ? " 

Beast. "Yes, as we came you know. Don't 
you remember ? we did not come in a palace car ? " 

Beauty. "To be sure; how odd." (Puts on 
ring. ) 

„ Beast. " But be careful about turning it, for 
you might get there without meaning to." 

Beauty. " Yes, and I want to time it when 
papa is at home." 

Beast. " Very well, but now, Beauty (growing 
tender, and putting out a paw), I want to ask you 
something. If you are happy here, with visits 
home now and then, couldn't you live here with 
me?" 

Beauty. " Oh, yes ! I thought I had got to." 

Beast. " Yes, but I mean — oh, Beauty ! (fall- 
ing on his knees'), can you, can't you love me ? 
Can't you marry me?" 



284 Entertainments. 

[Stamps her foot. Beast rolls over on his back in great 
grief and kicking.] 

Beauty (starting up). " What ! marry you ! 
Marry a Beast ! Never ! never ! never ! ! " Take 
me away ! Take me away ! Take me home ! 
(Suddenly remembers to turn the ring, which she 
must do very conspicuously.) Oh my ring ! how 
lucky." 

[Curiam falls quickly.] 



Scene III. — Merchanfs house. Same as Scene 1st. 
If there is a piano in the room, 2d Sister may be drwn- 
ming on it; but this is not important. 1st Sister is trying 
on a shawl at the glass. 

[Enter Merchant, hat, muffler and umbrella as before?^ 

Merchant {cheerfully). "Well, girls, here is a 
telegram from your sister — that is — from — 
(Beads.) 4 Arrived safely. Beauty in good spirits.' 

'BEAST.' 
That's encouraging, that's encouraging — but oh, 
my children ! " ( Weeps.) 

1st Sister. " Come, pa, don't take on so." 
2c? Sister. "What's the use making such a 
bother." 



Beauty and the Beast. 285 

Merchant, • " But here are her little toys ; here 
is her doll ! " {Exit.) 

1st Sister. " It can't be so very bad ; a Beast 
that sends telegrams must be different from the 
ordinary tiger of the jungle." 

2d Sister. " Oh yes, and Beauty is "fond of 
animals." 

Merchant. " Yes, yes, my daughters, very true. 
I have been thinking of it all night. That place 
where he lives was not like the Zoological Gardens. 
There was no smell of the animals." 

1st Sister. " "While he was here, you know, he 
stood upon his hind legs all the time." 

2d Sister. " And I did not dare to ask him to 
sit down." 

Merchant. " His visit was brief, very brief. 
And he took Beauty away. Oh, my children ! " 
( Weeps.) 

1st Sister. " There you are, at it again? " 

2d Sister. " We can't keep consoling you, 
papa." 

Merchant. " There was certainly something 
uncommon about him. Aje ne sais quoi." 

2 Sisters {aside). "French again! " 

Merchant. " I had all the time, did not you 
my daughters ? the feeling one has in associating 
with persons of distinction. I seemed almost to 
see a decoration in his button-hole on the left 
breast." 



286 Entertainments. 

1st Sister. "How absurd, papa;* beasts don't 

have button-holes." 

2d Sister. " No, their skins are all whole.'''' 
Merchant. " Well, well, we must hope for the 

best. I must go to my office." 

[ Wipes eyes, puts away handkerchief, buttons up coat, 
and takes umbrella. In turning to go out, he kicks the 
woolly dog. Takes it up and weeps. " Oh my chil- 
dren!" Finally, Exit.] 

1st Sister. " What a fuss he makes over these 
things ! Let us throw them out of the window." 

2d Sister. " Good idea, and not be bothered 
with them. Besides, it is something to do. I am 
tired of my piano. I wish I had said a hand-organ 
with monkey attachment." 

1st Sister. " My dear, the attachment of one 
Beast is enough for the family." 

2d Sister. " Don't pun." 

1st Sister. " It is a bad habit. As you say, 
there is nothing to do, for I have tried on all the 
clothes in my trunk, so that's played out." 

[They throw the playthings out of the window till none 
are left.] 

1st Sister (at the window*). " Oh, do look 
here ! See what is coming up the street ! It is a 
barge ! 'The Ocean Queen ! ' " 

2d Sister. " It's stopping here ! " 

1st Sister. " It's Beauty I " 



Beauty and the Beast. 287 

2d 



1 , Sisters. > " Back again ! " 

[They run back to the glass and piano, or sofa. Enter 
Beauty with stylish little bonnet and parasol.] 

Beauty, " Sisters ! I've come home ! " 

2 Sisters. " Oh, so you have ! " 

Beauty (kissing them). "Aren't you glad to 
see me ? " 

1st Sister. " Oh, yes, only it don't seem long 
since you left." 

2d Sister. " Papa has only just got a telegram 
to say you arrived." 

Beauty (aside). "Dear Beast! how thought- 
ful of him to send it ! " 

1st Sister. " How do you like this shawl, sis- 
ter?" 

2d Sister. " Oh, well enough. What sort of 
a place is it, Beauty, where the Beast puts up ? " 

1st Sister. "Kind of Barnum's circus, I sup- 
pose?'' 

2d Sister. " Of course you live in a tent ? " 

Beauty. " No, it's content." 

1st Sister. " When your Beast came in yester- 
day I was frightened to death. But he was quite 
meek. I suppose he never was in a house before." 

Beauty. " House ! Well no, to be sure, I sup- 
pose he never was in a common house like this ; 
for he lives in a palace." 



288 Entertainments, 

2d Sister. " I suppose you mean a cage, with 
bars in front of it." 

Beauty. "No, it is strictly temperance. If 
you'd only let me I would tell you about it." 

1st Sister. " My dear, little children should be 
seen and not heard. Keep your Beast to yourself, 
only don't talk about him." 

2d Sister. " It's very well to tell her to keep 
her Beast, but her Beast did not keep her long." 

Beauty. " Where's papa, don't he miss me ? " 
(Half crying.') 

1st Sister. " Gone down town of course." 

2d Sister. " Now, don't bother, Beauty, but get 
something to do. 

Beauty (sighs, and looks about her). " Well 
where are my playthings ? I found my doll on the 
doorstep, and her nose is broken." 

1st q. + \ " We threw them all out of the 

2d * lsters ' j window." 

Beauty (crying) — " How could you ! but — 
(smiling again). I forgot! I came back chiefly 
to show you my long dress." 

[Shows off her train, and turns round and round.] 

1st Sister (inspecting her). " Mm ! Old Arab 
fashions, I suppose ; that's as far as they've got in 
Sahara." 

2d Sister (from the sofa). " Everything is worn 
short here now." 

1st Sister. "Let's see your hair. Turned up. 



Beauty and the Beast. 289 

Hm ! {Takes off Beauty's bonnet and tries it on 
herself.') "Unbecoming thing ! " {Tosses it down.) 
Beauty (bursting into tears). " I'm sorry I 
came ! You hateful things. I wish, I almost wish 
I'd said I would marry the Beast." 

[Comes hastily forward and very distinctly turns her 
ring round. Tremendous ringing at the door-bell, and 
bumping sound on the stairs. Sisters screa?n. Enter 
Beast. Beauty springs forward with joy and embraces 
his nose with both hands.'] 

Beauty. " Oh ! I'm so glad." 

Beast (kneels before her). "Beauty, did you, 
didn't you say you would almost " 

Beauty. " Yes, yes, Beast, if you will only take 
me away again I will mabry you ! " 

2 Sisters. " Marry a Beast ! ! " 

Beast (suddenly flings away all his fur, pulls off 
his head, and kneels as a young man in dress suit). 
"I am a Prince ! " 

Is* Sister. "What! what." 

2d Sister. " Oh, my ! " 

[They stand back right and left. ~\ 

[Enter Merchant. He extends his arms over Beauty 
and the Beast who are hneelizig.] 

Merchant. " Oh, my children ! " 
[ Curtain falls.] 



PICTURES: Or, TABLEAUX. 



, V/lj 

IB-ST ^-A-^TZsTIE HUE. STEELE. 

Note. — Living pictures, or tableaux, of the size of easel pictures, are to be 
shown as if hanging on an ordinary wall, in an ordinary frame. 

These may be arranged with charming effect, and may be shown in a small 
public hall, or a large parlor with very simple appliances. Of course all the 
beauty depends upon the judicious use of color, and upon a sufficient but still a 
rather mysterious lighting. In the first place, a gilt, or walnut and gilt, picture 
frame must be hung in a common doorway, or between two sliding doors closed 
to the size of the frame, while the space above and below is covered with mate- 
rial of some dark color. The whole wall, or the doors which represent the wall, 
should also be covered with the same dark color. The picture frame must be 
hung just so high that by standing on the floor the head of an adult will be in the 
centre of the frame. Now fasten a wire across the audience room three or four 
inches in front of your frame. This will hold the curtain, which should be sus- 
pended from it with rings. The curtain should be of thick material. Behind the 
picture frame you will need a firm, high screen made of two uprights of scant- 
ling, with a cross-piece on top, and another half way down to strengthen it, and 
feet to widen the base. This screen should be nine feet high, at least; so high, 
at all events, that when seated in the front row of seats and looking through the 
frame, an observer will not be able to see the ceiling beyond. This screen is to 
hold the materials which fonn the background of the picture. When the figure 
is posed, the screen is to be pushed as close to the figure and the picture-frame as 
possible, to avoid the appearance of depth to the picture ; that is, to make the 
living figure appear as if it were a painting on a flat surface. 

We will say that the opening of the frame is thirty inches by twenty-four. 
Thirty-six by thirty would be better. That may be too large for some of the 
figures you would like to represent. An inner mat, as it is called, made of build- 
ing paper with light strips of wood across each end, will be useful. Two screw 
eyes at the upper corners, corresponding with two screw-hooks in the frame 
proper, will allow the mats to be easily adjusted. These mats may be covered 
with gilt paper, the outer rim corresponding with the inner rim of the frame ; 
that is, thirty by twenty-four inches, or thirty-six by thirty, the inner opening 
290 



Living Pictures. 291 

being either an oval or a square with rounded corners. This arrangement 
chang ;s the size and varies the shape of the pictures. 

As to the frame itself, if nothing better is at hand, one may be made of pine 
and covered with brown muslin and gilt paper, imitating a walnut and gilt pic- 
ture frame. This will be sufficiently good, as the light is to fall only on the 
picture in the opening, and the audience room will be dark. 

Now for the lighting, which is the most important of all. It is best to have a 
magic lantern so placed in the back of the room that a square of light shall fall 
upon the opening in the picture frame. An engine head-light will answer a good 
purpose if its light is bounded by a square opening, so that it throws a square 
light instead of a circular one. Also a fair arrangement would be two or three 
bull's-eye lanterns, placed in a close group on a firm, high stand near the frame, 
a little to the left in front, these so adjusted that their light will fall upon the 
opening in the picture frame. If the last means of lighting is used, it will be 
necessary to supplement it by the use of a bracket kerosene lamp, with reflector, 
so hung that its light will fall upon the person posed in the picture frame, the 
light falling through the space between the frame and the screen which is to form 
the background. Of course this lamp and reflector must hang in the room be- 
yond the picture frame. The light must not be too intense, as some shadows are 
needed upon the face for beauty. Lights from both sides at once, throw cross 
shadows which are ruinous to good looks or artistic effect. Light from above is 
good if it can be screened from the view of the audience, who are to sit in the 
dark. 

The Managers. First, a chief, who shall stand outside the frame in the 
audience room, pose the models for the pictures, decide about the colors, ring the 
bell for music, as well as draw the curtain, enveloping herself in its folds as it 
slides back. 

Second. Head of the dressing-room, who shall, at the beginning of the even- 
ing, take care that the costumes are complete, each group of articles laid by it- 
self, and ticketed according to the numbers of the programme, i, 2, 3, etc. It 
should be her business to see, also, that the models for at least three pictures 
ahead should stand dressed and waiting : this to avoid the tiresome delays that 
occur between tableaux. 

Third. Manager of the background shades, who shall remove one background 
and supply the next expeditiously. A step-ladder or some firm boxes will be 
needed for this purpose. 

Fourth. A musician, who should have her notes placed in the order required 
on the piano, which should stand behind scenes. 

Each officer should have a programme, relating only to her own peculiar duties, 
fastened up at her post of duty. She should understand her business thoroughly, 
and never turn aside from it. 1 hen there will be no need of the noise of ques- 
tions, nor the delay of confusion. 

Directions. — When the picture is posed satisfactorily by the chief, she is to 
ring a bell for silence in the audience ; a second bell for the music, which plays a 
strain or two till all are in the mood of its sentiment, then another bell, and the 
chief will herself draw the curtain, while the music continues till the curtain is 



292 



■Entertainments. 



closed for the last time. Then each officer rushes to her own work, and the 
next picture is soon ready for exhibition. 

In the first evening's entertainment here given, the names of the artists may be 
announced, if the original pictures are closely copied. For instance : " The 
Duchess of Devonshire," by Gainsborough, the portrait lately stolen; or, 
" Cherubs," by Sir Joshua Reynolds ; or, " Betty," by Nichols ; or, " Italian 
Girl," by Fortuny, etc. 



LIVING PICTURES. 



PROGRAMME. 



IFJ^^T I. 



Opening Music: A piano solo. 



Tableaux. 

1. Egyptian Girl. 

2. Maude Muller. 

3. Blessed are they that mourn. 

4. Duchess of Devonshire. 

5. Eva and Topsy. 

6. What the Daisy lived to see. 

7. Cherubs. 



Music. 
Strauss Waltz. 
Last Smile, by Wollerhaupt. 
A melody, by Rubinstein. 
La Gazelle, by Hoffman. 
Shoo-fly. 

We met by chance. 
I want to be an Angel ; or, 
Les Deux Anges. 







:pjl:r,t ii. 






Opening Music : 


Monastery 


Bells. 




Tableaux. 






Music. 


I. 

2. 


A Nun. 

Betty, the Milkmaid. 






Ave Maria. 

Comin' through the rye. 


3- 


Oriental Girl. 






Traumerei. 


4- 


Marguerite. 






Airs from Faust. 


5- 

6. 


Mignon. 
Spanish Lady. 






How can I leave thee. 
La Manola. 


7- 

S. 


Italian Girl. 
The Rescue. 






11 Bacio. 
The Erl King. 



Living Pictures, 293 

DESCRIPTION. 

Costumes, Positions and Backgrounds. 

1. Egyptian Girl. 

Represented by a brunette with sparkling black eyes, 
dressed in a cream- colored embroidered robe, bordered with 
deep maroon velvet, arms bare, several pairs of armlets and 
bangles upon them, black Spanish lace veil over hair which 
must be dressed very high to support it, ear rings, coin neck- 
lace, coins on band across ' forehead. The jewels may be 
made of gilt paper. 

Pose. She stands with body in profile, facing left, left 
hand on hip, elbow straight forward. Right hand drawing 
veil half across her face. 

• Background. A Persian rug or its imitation, or a gay 
striped pink and green bit of drapery. Use the mat with 
rounded corners for this picture. 

It is only necessary to costume the figures to the waist- 
line or a few inches below it. If it is impossible to copy the 
descriptions given, which were once actually carried out with 
great success, try to adhere to the colors, varying, if neces- 
sary, the detail. 

2. Maud Muller. 

She may be a sun-burned girl with expressive dark eyes. 

Dress. A pale calico waist of no particular color, sleeves 
rolled up. Faded red silk handkerchief tied about the neck 
loosely, and a torn, wide, sunburned, straw hat. 

Pose. She leans forward on a fence, chin buried in right 
palm, a longing look upon her face as if the Judge were dis- 
appearing in the distance, " It might have been " in her 
eyes. The wood-cut in one of the early volumes of The 
Aldine may be consulted. 

Background. Pale blue sky. Something made to simu- 
late a fence and a rake handle leaning against it, at her left. 



294 Entertainments. 

3. Blessed are they that mourn. 

Composed of two figures, the first an angel who should be 
a golden haired girl with wings attached to her shoulders, 
and her dress or drapery cream colored. Second, a brunette, 
pale and thin, prominent nose. She should be draped in 
dove color, medium tint, over head and arms like sleeves 
with a fold of white cambric underneath, next the face. 

Pose. Angel with wings spread forward, hands expressing 
support, eyes uplifted, expression prayerful. This figure 
stands behind. The mourner kneels in an attitude of grief, 
hands clasped. She should seem entirely unconscious of the 
presence of the angel although her head touches the angel's 
breast, or the head may fall forward on the clasped hands. 
A French picture, L'Intercesseur, is a good model. 

Background. Maroon color. Mat, oval. A pedestal table 
will be needed to support the mourner's hands. The wings 
may be white muslin stretched upon a wire frame with a 
few touches of India ink wash to represent feathers. 

4. Duchess of Devonshire. 

A bewitching, pretty girl in a blue silk waist (Marie Louise 
blue), with square neck and elbow sleeves, white illusion lace 
drawn over shoulders in a point, fastened with pink flowers 
in front. An extremely wide brimmed hat of black velvet 
turned up at one side with nodding plumes. A farmer's 
straw hat lined with velveteen will answer the purpose. 
Hair powered and curled and fastened irregularly. 

Pose. She stands facing the left, head turned toward au- 
dience. Copy Gainsborough's portrait. Do not spoil this by 
a dark blue dress which will not light up. 

Background. Fawn color. Mat with rounded corners. 

5. Eva and Topsy. 
Eva in white, with long yellow curls. Topsy in burlap and 
wig, one coral earring in her ear. It would be far better, of 
course, if there was no need of wig and burnt cork. 



Living Pictures. 295 

Pose. Eva holds up her finger while chiding Topsy for 
stealing Rosa's earring. Topsy grinning turns her ear to 
show Eva the wonderful ornament. 

Background. A light fawn color. No mat. 

6. What the daisy lived to see. 

First figure is a young man with a straw hat having a blue 
band, ordinary suit of clothes. Second, a young girl in 
blue dress, white Swiss muslin basque with black velvet sash, 
hat fallen off, croquet mallet under her arm. 

Pose. The young man stands in profile, with croquet 
mallet over his shoulders, looking down delightfully at the 
young girl who puts a daisy in his button hole, while she 
looks shyly but lovingly up to his face. 

Background. Dark green. No mat. 

7. Cherubs. 

Background. A frame corresponding with the opening 
of the picture frame, covered with gray cambric on which 
is fastened clouds of white tarleton. This hung in the frame 
like a mat. Before the clouds are fastened on, make three 
openings in this background by cross cuts like this figure X 
one of which should be above — and two underneath. Three 
little heads are to be pushed through these openings and a 
pair of little wings fastened at the side of each opening. 

The children must be supported at the right height by 
boxes ; the upper head looks down and should' be covered 
with light curls ; one of the lower cherubs looks up, the other 
straight forward. The wings may be made of white wiggin 
and feathers drawn upon them. They should be fastened to 
the background with pins. 

Or, in place of the last, the Sistine Cherubs may be repre- 
sented by two pretty negro children in the attitude of the fa- 
mous cherubs, and with little black wings fastened to their 
shoulders. 

Background. A flannel blanket with two green festoon- 
like curtains draped across the upper corners. 



296 Entertainments. 

This is very amusing, as the black eyes never fail to be 
very expressive. Since the light is directly in the face of the 
models, and the audience sit in the dark, it is impossible for 
them to recognize friends in the company, therefore, it is 
easy for them to hold any expression, not being confused. 



PART II. 

1. The Nun. 

May be a mild-faced blonde with large, liquid eyes. First 
pin a band of white muslin across the forehead concealing 
all hair. Then take three yards of white cambric, using it 
wrong side out, and pin it round the face, pinning it under the 
chin ; let it hang smoothly to her hips, then bring it back over 
her wrists and pin for flowing sleeves. A black shawl is then 
laid over the head and in the same way over the wrists. 
This is a simple way to represent a nun's dress. 

Pose. Hands are lifted in prayer, with a crucifix clasped 
in them, and a rosary hanging from them. The head thrown 
back, eyes tearfully uplifted. 

Background. Fawn color. Mat, oval. 

2. Betty. 

A rosy, plump girl in light calico, with a thin white ker- 
chief tied above a pointed-necked dress, wide straw hat 
caught up at one side with poppies and daisies, short sleeves 
or rather sleeves rolled up. 

Pose. Body to the left, milk pail under right arm filled 
with field flowers, while she seems to be singing on the way. 

Background. Pale blue as of sky. 

4. Oriental Beauty. 

A dark, sallow, black-eyed girl in a light brocade dress, red 
sash tied once straight about the waist, crossed behind and 
brought forward and tied again in front two or three inches 



Living Pictures, 297 

below the waist. Red and yellow crape turban. Let her 
have a large, gay fan of oriental design. She is to appear 
seated among cushions of gay colors. Two chairs, so placed 
that they do not prevent the screen being drawn up close to 
the figure, should have a narrow board on which the model 
is to be posed with her feet lying toward the left, as if rais- 
ing herself on her left elbow. 
Background. Olive brown. No mat. 

4. Marguerite. 

A sweet-faced, light-haired girl, with two braids hanging 
down ; in a white square-necked dress with chemisette tied 
with drawing string. The sleeves should be tight sleeves, 
with a pointed cuff of the same falling over the hand and puffs 
at the elbow. 

Pose. She faces the left and holds a daisy, as if she were 
saying, " He loves^ne, he loves me not." 

Background. Dark green. Oval mat. 

5. MlGNON. 

A young girl with fluffy, black hair combed back loosely 
only confined by a narrow band of red. A dark blue waist, 
low round neck with chemisette, and light blue apron across 
her lap. 

Pose. Seated with elbows on knee, an expression of home- 
sickness, longing for Italy. 

Background. A very light cold gray, 

6. A Spanish Lady. 

A pretty, regular-featured girl, a brunette, with red satin 
waist, black veil draped over high comb, little water curls at 
the ear, a rose at one side of hair in the veil. Fan and jewels. 

Pose. She seems to have just passed through a curtain 
which she still holds in one hand and looks forward as if from 
a balcony, her fan spread in the other hand. 

Background. Green, with fawn color draped across.it like 
a curtain, drawn at one side in a festoon. 



298 Entertainments. 

7. Italian Contadina. 

A dark girl, in brown peasant waist, gay Roman apron, 
round-necked chemisette, white sleeves to the elbow, gold 
beads, a red Italian head-dress made of flannel, folded about 
six inches wide and laid on the top of the head and allowed 
to hang to shoulders behind ; a similar fold of white cloth is 
underneath of the same width. Red coral bells for ears and 
coral bracelets. The hair should be divided in half behind 
and braided, then each braid brought forward around and 
above the ears and fastened again behind, underneath head- 
dress. 

Pose. As if leaning against a wall, hands folded behind 
head. 

Background. Stone color. 

8. The Rescue. 

First figure is a fireman in wide hard leather hat and red 
shirt with dingy face, descending a ladder with a little, curly- 
headed child tucked awkwardly under his arm. The child 
in a night-gown. Both figures expressive of fear and danger. 
The ladder must be firmly fixed close as possible to the frame. 
No drapery on background screen, but a few blackened boards 
leaning carelessly as if fallen by chance. Red fire on a tin 
plate should be burned at the back of the screen, the illumi- 
nation and smoke being very effective. 

Singing may be introduced between the parts of the pro- 
gramme. 

With this as an example many similar entertainments will 
no doubt be suggested. One, showing the prominent char- 
acters of the Old Testament, would be very effective and 
make a lasting impression. 



A BIRD CONCERT. 



-*♦*- 



Note. — So called because birds are to furnish much of the music, and be- 
cause the solos, recitations and dialogues are all concerning birds, or bear their 
names. 

The stage and concert hall should be made very beautiful and forest-like by 
decorations consisting of small trees, boughs and flowers, wreaths of evergreen, 
of oak leaves and arbor-vita*. As many canary birds, in their cages, as can be ob- 
tained for the occasion, twenty or thirty perhaps, should be hung at the front of 
the stage and at regular distances down the hall. The cages of some, at least, 
should be covered, and the hall darkened until time for curtain to rise. Then 
turn on the gas, uncover the birds, and you have the opening chorus of the eve- 
ning, a delightful flutter of song, which will continue fitfully during the evening 
but will always prove a harmonious accompaniment, especially to a vocal solo. 

The stage should represent a grove or garden. This effect can be produced by 
small trees and potted plants, a large rock, green drugget or carpet on the floor, 
etc. Stuffed birds of all varieties should be placed here and there amid the green. 

Upon the sides of the stage near the foot-lights, place the larger fowls such as 
ducks, swans, pelicans, an eagle overhead. 

The piano may represent a bank of vines and flowers as it stands across the 
left-hand corner of the stage, so that the pianist is seen from the audience in pro- 
file. The pianist and soloist should enter hand in hand, salute the audience, and 
take their positions gracefully. In case of a piano solo, some one will enter with 
the pianist, draw out the stool, and stand at the right to turn the leaves of the 
music. On rising to leave, the face of the pianist should be kept toward the au- 
dience as long as possible. 



PROGRAMME, 

PARTI I. 

i. Piano Solo. Birdie Darling. Schmidt 

or, The Prisoner and Swallow. Croiser. 

2. Chorus. Go, Birdie, tell Winnie I'm waiting ; or, Don't you see me coming ? 

G. F. Root. 

3. Declamation in Costume. Jimmy Butler, and The Owl. 

4. Solo and Chorus. Come, Birdie, come ; White. 

or, Robin Redbreast. J. M. Hubbard. 

5. Solo. Lover and the Bird. Guelielmo. 

6. Two Tableaux. The Babes in the Wood. 

299 



300 Entertainments. 



i. Piano Solo. Wild Bird's Song; Warnelink. 

or, If I were a bird I'd fly to thee. Henselt. 

2. Part Song. The Sky-lark; Barnabee. 

or, Quartette : The night-birds whisper soft and low. White. 

3. Solo. Bird of Beauty ; M. R. Scott. 

or, The Nightingale's trill. Ganz. 

4. Solo. The Bird that came in Spring ; Benedict. 

or, Messenger Swallow. Balfe. 

5. Which bird would you rather be ? From The Jimmy Johns (a little book 

by Mrs. Diaz). 



DESCRIPTION OF PROGRAMME. 

Part I. 

1. Gives a selection of solos, both rather ambitious pieces; 
suitable for one of the older girls of the Sunday-school. 

2. The first is a pretty chorus for little girls from eight to 
eleven. The second a very simple solo and chorus for the 
same. 

3. A good declamation for a boy of sixteen. He should 
have ragged clothes, a stick and a bundle, and a dilapidated 
silk hat, which he holds in his hand and then puts on the floor 
of the stage. This may be found in Howard's Recitations, a 
collection of comic sermons and pathetic pieces published by 
Happy Hours Company, No. 1 Chambers Street, New York. 

4. The first is a solo and chorus for girls often, the second 
a simple solo. 

5. Is a solo for an older pupil or teacher, the second for a 
cultivated voice. 

6. The first tableau is a forest scene. Two little boys of 
four and six, or six and seven, are seen hugging close together 
in fright, while the stage is dark, and a fitful magnesium light 
and the roll of a gong imitate a storm. In the second tab- 



A Bird Concert. 



301 



leau the children apparently lie dead, with their heads upon 
boughs, while stuffed robins are arranged to run down wires 
and cross the stage with leaves in their mouths. The follow- 
ing verses are read behind the curtain, one before each tab- 
leau : 

Poets tell a simple story 

Of two babes who long ago 
Wandered through a forest hoary 

Where the meek-eyed violets blow. 
There the night came down and found them 

Far from home with weary feet, 
Spread her stormy mantle round them 

And then laid them down to sleep. 

Soon God's angels, winged reapers, 

In the storm and in the cold, 
Sought the little tired sleepers, 

Bore them to their Father's fold. 
Then the robins, sweet-voiced mourners, 

Softly spread a leafy shroud, 
Woven by the autumn sunbeams, 

Tinted like a twilight cloud. 



Part II. 

1. The first is not a difficult number, and the second is a se- 
lection for a good pianist. 

2. Is a somewhat difficult piece for a double quartette, and 
and the second is suitable for large pupils. 

3. Is an old song, but one rarely well sung. The warble 
should be fluent and sweet, and instead of it may be sung 
the nightingale's trill, a solo for a cultivated voice. 

4. Offers a choice of songs for an older pupil. 

5. Is an interesting, sprightly dialogue for little folks from 
five to twelve, very easy to learn as each child has but few 



3 o 2 Entertainments. 

sentences to commit. The children should be gracefully 
posed and drilled by teachers. The part of each child should 
be written out, with the sense of what was said by the last 
speaker for a clue, these separate parts taken home by the 
children to commit to memory. If the children enter into it 
with spirit, as they doubtless will, the effect is very pleasing. 
It has been successfully repeated in the same town and to 
full houses ; and, what is of more importance, the children are 
entertained and benefited by learning to have happy times in 
innocent ways. 



WHICH BIRD WOULD YOU RATHER BE ? 

(Reprinted by permission.) 

A DIALOGUE. 

SPEAKERS. 

Mart. Edith. Eva. Feed. 

Dolly. Caroline. Minnie. Arthur. 

Dora. Hettie. Joe. Johnny. 

Gussie. 

Mary, Caroline, Dolly and Dora are the largest, 
among the girls : Minnie and Eva the smallest. Fred 
and Joe are the largest boys ; Johnny is the smallest. 



A Bird Concert. 303 

Scene. At recess, or waiting for schoot 'to begin. 
Mary and Hettie are sitting together with Mary's arm 
around Hettie. Johnnie stands whittling. Gussie is 
seated with open book in hand. Dolly occasionally swings 
her hat by one string. Caroline sits with slate before her. 
Fred leans back in his chair and sharpens a lead-pencil. 
Arthur stands winding a ball, unravelling a stocking. 
Minnie sits on a low stool playing with a few flowers. 
The children should be arranged in such a way that there 
shall be no stiffness in the general effect. They may move 
about a very little and gesticulate. Two figures should 
stand in the middle of the stage at the back, several be 
seated toward frofit of the stage, turning slightly to right 
and left. Confused noise of talking behind the curtain. 

[Curtain rises."] 

Mary (as if continuing conversation). "Now,/ 
should rather be a robin. He sings so pretty a 
song ! Everybody likes to hear a robin sing. I 
don't believe even a boy would shoot a robin." 

Johnny. " 'Course he wouldn't ! " 

Minnie. " Robin red-breast covered up the two 
little childuns when they got lost in the woods." 

Caroline. " And they don't do like other birds, 
live here all summer and have a good time, and 
then fly off and leave us. They stay by." 

Gussie. " How do you know that ? " 

Caroline. " Oh, I've heard they stay in swamps 
and barns, waiting for the spring. " Don't you re- 
member ? (Sings.) 



304 Entertainments. 

The north wind doth blow, and we shall have snow, 
And what will the robin do then, poor thing ? 
He will sit in the barn, and keep himself warm, 
And hide his head under his wing, poor thing." • 

[Others join in the song, one or two at a time, until all 
are singing?^ 

Mary. "Yes, he comes close up to our back 
door and eats the crumbs, and perches on the apple- 
tree boughs. Mamma says, 'it seems as if he 
were one of the family.' " 

Dolly. " Now I should a great deal rather be a 
swallow and fly away. Then I would fly down 
South, where the oranges grow, and figs, and 
sugar-cane, and see all the wonderful sights. And 
I'd go to the beautiful, sunny islands over the 
seas." 

Johnny. " You'd get tired, may be, and drop 
down into the water." 

Joe. " No, he'd light on the topmasts of ships, 
that's the way they do." 

Dolly. " 'Twould be a great deal better than 
living in a barn all winter." 

Dora. " Oh, this morning I saw the prettiest 
bird I ever saw in all my life. Oh, if he wasn't 
prett} 7 ! Father said it was a ' Baltimore oriole. 
Part of him was black and part of him red as fire. 
Oh, he was a - beauty ! If ever I am a bird I'll be 
an oriole." 



A Bird Concert. 305 

Arthur. u Uncle Daniel calls him the hang-fire 
bird." 

Fred. " That's because his nest hangs down 
from the bough like a bag." 

Caroline. " Don't you know what that's for ? 
Where they came from, down in the torrid zone, 
they build their nests that way so the monkeys 
and serpents can't get their eggs." 

Arthur. " I've got a hang-bird's egg ! " 

Edith. " Do they have red eggs ? " 

Fred. " No, black and white. My father calls 
him the golden robin." 

Caroline. " I tell you what I'd be — a mocking 
bird; — and I tell you why — because a mocking bird 
can sing every time he hears. It does vex me so 
when I hear a pretty tune and can't sing it ! 
Sometimes I can remember one line and then I 
can't rest till I get the whole. Mother says I 
ought to have been born a mocking bird." 

Fred. " Of course, Caroline would want to 
carol" 

[Groans and cries of"0, Fred " by the others ■.] 

Caroline. " Mother says he can whistle to the 
dog, and chirp like a chicken, or scream like a hawk, 
and can imitate any kind of sound, filing or plan- 
ing, or anything." 

Mary. " And he can sing sweeter than a night- 
ingale." 



306 Entertainments. 

Arthur. " I'd be a lark, for he goes up highest." 

Fred. " He has a low enough place to start 
from." 

Caroline. " I know it, 'way down on the ground 
'mongst the grass." 

Dolly. a No matter what a low place he starts 
from so long as he gets up high at last ! Don't you 
know Lincoln ? " 

Joe. "I know what I'd be — some kind of a 
water-fowl, then I could go to sea." 

Johnny. " You better be a coot." 

Fred. " Or, one of Mother Carey's chickens." 

Joe. " No ; I'd be that g*reat, strong bird (I for- 
get his name) that flies and flies over the great 
ocean and never stops to rest, through storms and 
darkness right overhead. He doesn't have to take 
in sail or cut away the masts. I'd be an albatross. 
Guss, what do you think about it ? " 

Guss. " Well, I think I'd be an ostrich, then I 
can run and fly both together." 

Arthur. " And you wouldn't be afraid to eat 
things." 

Guss. " No, that's so. They swallow down 
leather, stones, old iron, and nothing ever hurts 
them." 

Dolly. " I heard of one swallowing a lady's par- 
asol once." 

Johnny. "But they'd pull out your feathers." 

Guss. "No matter, the girls have to have them 
for their hats." 



A Bird Concert. 307 

Johnny. " I know what I'd be. I'd be an owl, 

then I could sit up late at night." 

Hettie. "You'd be scared of the- dark." 
Johnny. " 'Twouldn't be dark if I was an owl." 
Mary " Can't you play enough daytimes ? " 
Johnny. " Oh, daytimes isn't good for anything. 

They have all the fun after we're gone to bed. I 

and Charlie " — 

Fred, " ' Twont do for little boys to hear every 

thing that goes on." 

Guss. "You little fellows are apt to make a 

noise and disturb us." 

Hettie. " Mother says if I weren't a chatterbox 

I co aid stay up later. Id choose to be a parrot, 

for parrots can talk just when they want to, and 

have blue wings and green wings, and red and 

yellow and all colors." 

Edith. "I'd rather be a canary bird, because 

they have sponge cake and sugar plums every 

day." 

Hettie. " Oh, I wouldn't be a canary bird, shut 

up in a cage ! " 

Bora. " I'd rather live on dry sticks." 

Minnie. " My mamma's got a canary bird, and 

he sings, and he's yellow." 

Hettie. " Parrots are the prettiest." 

Mary. " Why doesn't somebody be a flamingo ? 

He is flame-colored." - 

Arthur. " I should think some of you girls 

would want to be a peacock." 



308 Entertainments. 

Fred. I know who seems like a peacock — Nan- 
nie Watkins — I saw her stepping off the other 
day just as proud — about seventeen flounces and 
yellow kids and yellow boots and curls and stream- 
ers — (first looking at his dress, then at his hands, 
then at his boots') this way (imitates'). 

Dolly. " Well, if some girls are peacocks, some 
boys are hawks. I saw that great Joshua Lowe 
come pouncing down on a flock of little boys yes- 
terday and do every thing he could think of to 'em, 
just to show he could master them." 
. Mary. " And if you want a crow-fighter take 
Andy Barrows ; he's always picking a quarrel." 

Dora. "I know it, I've heard him. 'Come on,' 
he says, ' come on, I'll fight yer.' " (Imitates.) 

Caroline. " I think as a general thing girls be- 
have better than boys. What do you think, little 
Minnie? You don't say much." 

Minnie (looking up from her flowers). "I'd be 
a humming bird." 

Edith. " She thinks we are talking about birds." 

Caroline. " And what would you be a humming 
bird for?" 

Minnie. " 'Cause they're so pretty and cun- 
ning." 

Hettie. " So they are, Minnie." 

Minnie. " And they keep within the flowers all 
the time, and eat honey." 

Edith. "My brother found a humming bird's 
nest ; oh, inside it was just as soft as wool ! And 



A Bird Concert. 309 

little bits of white eggs, just like little bits of white 
beans." 

Dora (looking at Eva and taking her hand). 
" Now here's a little girl sitting still all this time, 
and not saying a word." 

Caroline. "I know it. Isn't she a dear little 
girl ? " (Stroking her hair.) 

Mary. " She ought to be a dove, she is so gen- 
tle and still." 

Dolly. " You dear little pigeon-dove, what would 
you be ? " 

Eva (looking up). " I'd be a sparrow." 

Mary. " You would ? And what would you be 
a sparrow for ? " 

Eva. " 'Cause my mamma says, not a sparrow 
falls to the ground." . 

\Girls look at each other. ~\ 

Dolly (softly). "Isn't she cunning?" 
Mary and Dora. " I think she is just as cunning 
as can be." 

Joe. " Fred has not said what he'd be yet." 
Fred. " Eagle. He's the grandest of all. He 
can fly in the face of the sun." 

Johnny. " Eagles can beat every other bird." 
Joe. "Of course, Fred would't be anything 
short of an eagle." 

Fred. " No, nor anything short of the Ameri- 
can eagle." 



3 1 o Entertainments. 

All the hoys. " Three cheers for the American 
eagle." (Rising.') 

All together. " Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah ! " 

[Curtain falls ; or, if there be no curtain, a boy rushes 
in to say that the organ-man is coming and they all rush 
out.] 



ANOTHER BIRD CONCERT. 

This concert could be given in the afternoon. In that 
case there would be a better chance for its spirited per- 
formance, especially for the smaller children. 

In some localities music and recitation might be success- 
fully undertaken when tableaux would be impracticable. 
The following list might be available : 

" The bird let loose in Eastern skies." A duet. Shaw. 

"Sing, birdie, sing." A solo. Gam. 

" Who 's at my window ? " A solo. Osborne. 

[ The last two for trained voices.] 
"Fly forth, oh gentle dove," and, "The Swallow." Solos. Pinsutt. 

"Oh Swallow, happy swallow." A duet. Ktickeu. 

" Flee as a bird to your mountain." 

" One morning, oh, so early." A solo. Gatty. 

(This composition is a Bird Concert in itself ; the words by Jean Ingelow.) 
" Sing, sweet bird." Ganz. 

" Beautiful bird, sing on." Howe. 

"Like a lark." A duet. Frans Abt. 

Many of the above are to be found in " Gems of English Song." 
For suitabh recitations the first three verses of a "A Bird's-eye View " might 
be used as a dialogue. It may be found in Whittier's Child Life. 

" Sing on, blithe bird." To be found in Child Life. Motherwell. 

" To a Waterfowl." IV. C. Bryant. 

"Who stole the Bird's nest ? " might be divided among six little people. 

L. Maria Child. 

" The little Maiden and the little Birds " may be used as a dialogue. "The 
Brown Thrush," by Lucy Larcom, and "Robert of Lincoln," by Bryant, are 
also exceedingly appropriate. All these are to be found in that admirable col- 
lection of children's classics by Whittier. The readers of St. Nicholas, Wide 
Awake, The Youth's Companion, and other periodicals for children, will find 
many other available articles published since Child Life was issued in 1875. 

311 



A PORTRAIT OF A FELLOW- 
CITIZEN; 

Or, THE AETIST AND THE CEITICS. 



ANNOUNCEMENT. 

"A portrait of a fellow-citizen will now be unveiled for the 
first time. A few of our art critics have been asked to ex- 
press their opinions about it." 

The portrait is represented 'by a young man with decided 
features, who sits in profile behind a frame, while a back- 
ground of plain dark-brown muslin is hung behind his head as 
close up to the frame as possible. The wrong side of glazed 
cambric must be used, but woolen is better, reflecting no light. 

The artist stands with palette, maul stick, and brushes in 
his hand — has a velvet coat, smoking cap, etc. He receives 
the criticisms with suave politeness, is Frenchy in accent and 
shrug of shoulders, would wish to suit his friends exactly, etc. 

The critics do not remember the subject as having so prom- 
inent a forehead, are sure the nose is a little too long — " Ah, 
yes, that is better." " We think the chin should recede a 
little more." " The portrait is rather young looking, has not 
the lines of character in it which mark our much esteemed 
fellow-citizen, etc., etc." 

The artist is much obliged for the kind criticism, and very 
willingly makes the necessary changes. His palette is ar- 
ranged beforehand, with brown paint exactly matching the 
background, with flesh tint, and with a soft brownish gray, to 
deepen the lines of the face, The changes are made upon 
the face of the person sitting. Brown paint is used where 
312 



A Portrait. 313 

the line altered touches the background, with flesh tint where 
it does not. In a few moments all trace of the original is 
gone, and the effect is ludicrous in the extreme. 

The artist is very grateful and begs to present to the audi- 
ence the finished portrait of their distinguished friend Mr. , 

announcing the name of the subject. Of course the original 
of the portrait is perfectly still all this time preserving a stolid 
expression. 

The critics express themselves delighted, think their ad- 
vice has been of great value, and declare the portrait is more 
life-like than before. 

This instructive lesson in the value of art criticism is ap- 
propriately added to an entertainment of tableaux through a 
picture frame. If the Songs of Seven is illustrated in this 
way, the unveiling of a portrait will make an entertaining 
close to the entertainment. 



MOTHER GOOSE ENTERTAIN- 
MENT. 

(Combined feom Mrs. Whitney and others.) 

Before the curtain rises some skilful piano-player 
behind the scenes should give a medley of Mother Goose 
airs from Mother Goose Melodies by Elliot, The Baby's 
Opera, or Mrs. Bartington's Edition, choosing only those 
which are set to the original rhymes. Later productions 
may be very pretty, but are out of place in an e7itertainment 
belo?iging strictly to Mother Goose. 

Whe?i the curtain is raised it discloses the old lady her- 
self dressed in a short red skirt, with high colored, large 
figured over-dress looped up all around, a long pointed 
bodice, short flowing sleeves, striped stockings, low pointed 
slippers with high heels, a white cap with a broad frill, 
over this a black hat running to a point about afoot high, 
with a large buckle in front, and a small round black cape 
over one shoulder. She carries a cane and wears glasses, 
ifideed, as nearly like the pictures of her as may be. She 
comes hobbling in, and approaching the front of the stage 
recites : 

You'd scarce expect one of my age 
To speak in public on the stage ; 



Mother Goose Entertainment. 315 

But I'm the children's much loved poet 

And hope all future years will show it. 

I trust, dear friends, you welcome me 

The jolly friend of infancy ; 

Rocking- your cradle times without number 

My " Lullaby, Baby " soothed you to slumber, 

" Patty cake, patty cake," taught you to frolic, 

And " High-diddle-diddle " charmed away colic. 

The little pet with chubby feet 

Rosy and dimpled, soft and sweet, 

The wasted child of want and woe — 

All loved my music long ago. 

And just as fresh and new to-day 

Is little Boy Blue asleep in the hay, 

Or Tacky Horner, or Johnny Tucker, 

Like any boy who wants his supper. 

Not only the little toddlers 

Perched high on papa's knee 
Bound for a ride to London town 
On childish journeys go ; 

For we all go up, up, up, 

And all go down, down, down-y, 
And all go backward and forward, 
And all go round, round, round-y. 

Still do we search for sunbeams 

And learn the rattle's trick ; 
The great, big watch of Father Time 

How we love to hear it tick ! 

So pat-a-cake for our Tommy, 

And pat-a-cake for ourself — 
For that alone we labor and strive 

And hoard up our golden pelf. 



3 1 6 Entertainments. 



This little pig goes to market, 

This little pig stays at home, 
And we all cry, " Wee," for our mammy 

Wherever we chance to roam. 

We seek our bed with Sleepy-head, 

We stay awhile with Slow, 
And fill the pot with Greedy, glad 

To sup before we go. 

When Jack and Jill go up the hill • 

To fetch their pail of water ; 
As sure as Jack comes tumbling down 

Poor Jill comes tumbling after. 

Mistress Marys are still contrary, 

Marjorie Daws still sell ; 
Mother Hubbards ransack their cupboards, 

For bones for their ne'er-do-well. 

" What do you want ? " "A pot of beer ? " 

Alack the bitter wrong ! 
That grenadier an army hath 

Of many a million strong ! 

Our wise men into brambles stroll, 
Do jump with might and main ; 

And those who go to sea in bowls 
Rarely come back again. 

And don't some hearts, deploring 
The things that gnaw and harrow, 

Let fall the wheelbarrow, wife and all 
When lanes are rough and narrow ? 



Mother Goose Entertainment. 317 



Ah yes ! The old rhymes suit us 

As well as ever they did ; 
For the jist of our lives, from first to last, 
Is under their jingle hid ; 

As we all go up, up, up, 

As we all go down, down, down-y, 
As we all go backward and forward, 
As we go round, round, round-y. 

Some men may strive for grander thought, 

But six times out of every seven 
My old philosophy hath taught 

All they can master, this side heaven. 

They use my quills and leave me out, 
Forgetting that I wear the wings ; 

Or, that a Goose has been about 
When every little gosling sings, 

And generations, yet to come, 
Will bless my name, in happy homes ; 
And wise and prudent ones to nursery use 
Devote the lyrics of old Mother Goose. 

I'll prove the nursery poet still, 
Cackling forever with the same good will, 
Giving good counsel in a foolish way 
And solemn warning in the guise of play. 

Though always with you in the ancient song ; 
My stay from Dreamland must not be long 
So then before my parting leave I take 
Look on these pictures for my sake . 



With a gesture of warning she goes on 



3 1 8 E?itertainments t 

Hark, hark ! 

The dogs do bark ; 
The beggars are coming to town 

Some in rags, 

Some in tags, 
And some in velvet gown. 

Music strikes up, playing the Gypsy, Chorus fro7n Bohe- 
mia?i Girl ; it continues while a group of eight or ten per- 
sons dressed in rags and tattered finery pass across the 
stage, entering at one side and leaving at the other to re- 
appear in the same way, or the procession doubles upon 
itself passing round Mother Goose. They should walk in 
a lounging manner and without hurry , and hold out their 
hands to the audience as if begging. When they have 
passed out finally, and the music has ceased, Mother Goose 
reads slowly and distinctly : 

Coming, coming always! 

Crowding into earth, 
Seizing on this human life — 
Beggars from the birth. 

Beggars, beggars, all of us ! 

Expectants from our youth, 
With hands outstretched and asking alms 

Of Hope, and Love, and Truth. 

Coming, coming always ! 

And the bluff Apostle waits 
As the throng pours upward from the earth, 

To Heaven's eternal gate. 

But a ghostly beggar knocketh 

In self-complacent trim, 
And Peter riseth up to see — 

Especially to him. 



Mother Goose Entertainment. 319 

" Good morrow, saint, I'm going in 
To take a stroll you know — 
Not that I want for anything 
But just to see the show," 

" Hold," thundereth St. Peter, 
" Be pleased to pause a bit ! 
For seats celestial, let me say, 
Your garments are not fit. 

" Whatever may be thought on earth 
We've other rules in Heaven, 
And only poverty confessed 
Finds free admittance* given." 

The curtain drops long enough to have two boys take their 
places on the stage, Mother Goose sitting a little one side 
of the middle, either in front of the boys or quitebehind them. 
One boy has a toy gun which he discharges at the' proper 
time ; the other boy must be provided with two wigs, 
one made of flesh-colored material with a fringe for ^hair 
around the lower part. This should cover completely the 
natural hair and should be fastened securely by strings 
around the ears. The other to be shot off, must be so ar- 
ranged by threads to his arms that when the arms are 
thrown up in fright the wig will be pulled off, leaving him 
apparently bald. He must appear afraid, and when the 
music comes to Top, the gun must flash, bullets fall on the 
floor, the wig drop off, and the boys retreat backward in 
great terror. The music should play Pop goes the Weasel, 
from the time the curtain drops upon Mother Goose's 
reading. When the curtain rises again Mother Goose 
repeats. 



320 Entertainments. 

There was a little man, and he had a little gun, 
And the bullets were made of lead, lead, lead. 

He shot John Sprigg through the middle of his wig, 
And knocked it right off his head, head, head. 

The curtain drops long enough to have the boys leave, 
and rising again upon Mother Goose sitting a little at 
one side. In the middle of the stage sits a young girl ap- 
parently in deep thought : Mother Goose repeats : 

Bonnie lass, bonnie lass, will you be mine ? 

You shall neither wash dishes, nor serve the wine ; 
But sit on a cushion and sew up a seam, 

And you shall have"stawberries, and sugar, and cream. 

The music should play Blue Eyed Mary, or Bonnie 
Doon, or the air and accompaniment of Franz Abfs song, 
Embarrassment. It will stop playing after two minutes 
when Mother Goose begins to read, the Bonnie Lass sit- 
ting quietly : 

Bonnie lassie sat with her golden curls, - 

And her eyes like the violets blue, 
Wondering if all her lover had said 

In the future would prove itself true. 

She thought of her Jamie, far o'er the blue sea, 

So royal, so loving, so brave ; 
Of the cot he had promised, when perils were o'er. 

And the promise she solemnly gave 

To be his evermore ; then she drove from her mind 

The past with its visions of bliss 
And said to herself, " This is wiser by far — 

What life could be better than this ? 



MotJier Goose E?itertainmetit. 321 

" No cares to annoy, no duties to vex, 
> Life will be but a beautiful dream ; 
Nothing from morning till night to do 
But sew, and eat berries and cream." 

The bonnie lass went to her lover's home 

Singing like bird to her nest : 
No dishes to wash, no serving of wine : 

Was ever a bride so blest ? 

Here the curtain falls, and when it rises again Mother 
Goose is seated as usual. Bonnie Lass is sitting in a 
gloomy, despairing attitude, on a low seat, with hair in 
disorder aud dress shabby, a plate of berries and cream on 
the floor or tabte beside her. Mother Goose resumes : 

But when the new dresses had all been worn out 

And she wearied of berries and cream, 
She fretted, and wished she had something to do ; 

Poor bonnie lass, woke from her dream. 

" Oh, had I but married the man that I loved 

And toiled for my daily bread — 
I should happier be at the end of my life 

And wiser in heart and head. 

"For I see, when too late, that in duties well done — 

In service to other lives given, 
Is the blessing that makes us forever the heirs, 

Of a heritage lasting as Heaven." 

The curtain falls long enough to have Bonnie Lass 
retire, and the necessary preparations for the next tab- 
leau are made expeditiously as possible. A mother is to 



322 Entertainments. 

sit beside a cradle rocking it, with a baby, or the semblance 
of a baby, in it. This picture ought to be as 'charming as 
any of the old Madonnas. It may easily be if not spoiled 
by over-dressing. The curtain rises f and Mother Goose 
repeats : 

Rockaby, baby, 

Your cradle is green ; 
Father's a nobleman ; 

Mother's a queen ; 
And Betty's a lady 

And wears a gold ring; 
And Johnny's a drummer, 

And drums for the king. 

Music starts up and co?itinues playi?ig Greenville, the 
mother rocking and sewing, the curtain falling after a few 
minutes. As absolute stillness is not required in these 
tableaux, the curtain may remain up a lo?iger time than 
usual. When it drops, everything must be removed again 
except Mother Goose, who reads : 

O golden gift of childhood ! 

That with its kingly touch 
Transforms to more than royalty 

The thing it loveth much ! 

Though he be the humblest craftsman, 

No silk nor ermine piled 
Could make the father seem a whit 

More noble to the child. 

And the mother — ah, what queenlier crown 

Could rest upon her brow 
Than the fair and gentle dignity 

It weareth to him now ? 



Mother Goose Entertainment 323 

E'en the gilded ring that Michael 

For a penny farthing bought, 
Is the seal of Betty's ladyhood 

To his untutored thought ; 

And the darling drum about his neck, 

His very newest toy, 
A bondsman unto Majesty 

Hath straightway made the boy ! 

O golden gift of childhood ! 

If the talisman might last, 
How the dull Present still should gleam 

With the glory of the Past. 

The curtain falls. Music plays, u God Save the 
Queen.'' 1 As soon as possible there is put upon the stage a 
large shoe, made of pasteboard, at least four feet long. It 
should stand a little to the left of the middle of the stage, 
the toe toward the audience, nearer the left of the stage 
than the heel. The heel should be high enough to allow a 
little fellow to lie under it. The shoe is to be filled with 
little children. They may be taken fr -om the audience upon 
the moment, and be trusted to be uneasy enough to give a 
good effect. The curtain rises and Mother Goose 



announces : 



There was an old woman 

Who lived in a shoe, 
She had so many children 

She didn't know what to do. 

To some she gave broth, 
And to some she gave bread, 

And some she whipped soundly 
And sent them to bed. 



324 Entertainments. 

One of the children in the shoe should be dressed as an 
old woman with a whip at her side, a bowl and enormous 
spoon in her hand, with which she undertakes to feed them 
all. She is soon obliged to lay dow7i the spoon, ply the 
whip and settle one little fellow to sleep under the heel of 
the shoe. That accomplished, and having dropped her 
spoon and given a few pieces of bread, she tries to make 
another little boy drink from the bowl. He refuses and 
escapes from her, tumbling over the side, and stands at a 
little distance toward the right — the very image of sturdy 
rebellion — taking off his coat, rollifig up his sleeves a?id 
squaring himself for a fight. All this in pantomime ', the 
music playing except while Mother Goose speaks. The 
curtain falls. Music strikes up Ya?ikee Doodle. Another 
shoe like the first is put upon the stage, the toe pointing 
toward the right. A rope is fastened to each, ready to be 
joined like a finishing string of a pair of shoes, each half 
of the rope to be concealed at first. The curtain rises and 
shows the rebellious boy standing in the second shoe. One 
by one other children come on the stage and join him till the 
second shoe is as full as the first. . All eagerly looking 
to know what is going to take place, the little fellow, who is 
supposed to be asleep, crawls half out to see. Those in the 
last shoe keep up a constant hurrahing. Finally one boy 
leaves each shoe and taking in his ha?idthe rope helps jom 
them together i?i the middle. If the boy leaving the second 
shoe should be named Field, and be well know?i to the audi- 
ence, all the better. If not, let his back be labelled Cyrus 
W. Field, and as he helps tie the knot let him stand with 
his back toward the audience. Both sides hurrah and 
throw up their hands in delight. The curtain drops, mu- 
sic still playing Yankee Doodle. Every thing is removed. 



Mother Goose Entertainment. 325 

Curtain rises. Music stops, and Mother Goose reads 
slowly and distinctly : 

Do you find out the likeness ? 

A portly old Dame — 
The mother of millions, 

Brittania by name ; 
And, howe'er it may strike you 

In reading the song 
Not stinted in space 

For bestowing the throng : 
Since the Sun can himself 

Hardly manage to go 
In a day and a night 

From the heel to the toe. 
Yet — though justly of all 

Her fine family proud 
'Tis no light undertaking 

To rule such a crowd ; 
Not to mention the trouble 

Of seeing them fed, 
And with justice dispensing 

The broth and the bread. 
Some will seize upon one — • 

Some are left with the other — 
And so the whole household 

Gets into a pother. 
But the rigid old Dame 

Has a summary way 
Of her own, when she finds 

There is mischief to pay. 
She just takes up her rod 

As she lays down her spoon 
And makes their rebellious backs 

Tingle right soon. 



326 Entertainments. 

Then she bids them, while yet 

The sore smarting they feel, 
To lie down, and go sleep 

Quick, under her heel. 
Only once was she 'posed, 

When the little boy Sam 
Who had always before 

Been as meek as a lamb, 
Refused to take tea 

As his moth er had bid, 
And returned saucy answers 

Because he was chid. 
Not content even then, 

He cut loose from the throne 
And set about making 

A shoe of his own, 
Which succeeded so well 

And was filled up so fast, 
That the world in amazement 

Confessed, at the last — 
Looking on at the work 

With a gasp and a stare, 
That it was hard to tell which 

Would be best of the pair. 
Side by side are they standing 

•Together to-day ; 
Side by side may they keep 

Their strong foothold for aye ; 
And beneath the broad sea, 

Whose blue depths intervene, 
May the finishing string 

Lie unbroken between. 

Curtain falls to prepare for My Pretty Maid, a panto- 
mime, in which the characters are a pretty milkmaid in the 



Mother Goose Entertainment, 327 

dress of the last century, short waist, short sleeves, neck- 
kerchief, dress tucked up at one side showing petticoat and 
buckled slippers. A milk-pail in one hand, a milking stool 
under the other arm* A young man i?i top boots, knee 
breeches, swallow-tail coat, ruffled shirt, white cravat and 
powdered hair. Milkmaid enters upon one side, young 
man from the other; he intercepts her and a singer from 
behind the scenes in clear distinct tones sings the ballet as it 
is rendered in Baby's Opera, or from the published song of 
Where are you going, my pretty maid 9 . At every line the 
actors conform their motions to the sentiment sung. For 
instance : 

" Where are you going, my pretty Maid ? " 

[ Young man bows and extends his hand as if asking a 
question^] 

" I'm going a milking, sir," she said. 

{Milkmaid points to her pail ', and bows slightly^ 

Her motions should be slow to occupy all the timg used 
by the singer to repeat the answer. 

" Shall I go with you, my pretty Maid ? " 

f Young man is more entreating in manner^ 

" Yes, if you please, kind sir," she says. 

[Milkmaid assents with pleasure.'] 

* " What is your fortune, my Pretty Maid ? " 

[ Young man with eagerness^ 

" My face is my fortune, sir," she said. 

[Milkmaid, with dignity, taking a pail of water and stool 
in one hand and touching her face with the other.] 



328 Entertainments. 

" Then, I cannot marry you, my Pretty Maid." 

[ Young man turns away.] 
" Nobody asked you, sir," she said. 
[She answers saucily and turns away with indifference.] 

There should be more indifference than stom imitated. 
Jt should not be overacted. The colors chosen for the 
dresses should be becoming and then harmonious. The 
young man's dress should be in grave colors. For the shape 
of the garments, the picture in the Baby's Opera will be a 
good model. Mother Goose remains on the stage. When 
the curtain rises after the Pretty Maid has left, it discloses 
a quartette of male voices, who sing: 

There was a man in our town 

And he was wondrous wise, 
He jumped into a bramble bush 

And scratched out both his eyes. 

And when he found his eyes were out, 

With all his might and main 
He jumped into a bramble bush 

And scratched them in again. 

After the singers have left the stage Mother Goose 
reads : 

Old Dr. Hahnnemann read the tale 

(And he was wondrous wise) 
Of the man who in the bramble bush 

Had scratched out both his eyes. 
And the fancy tickled mightily 

His misty German brain, 



Mother Goose Entertainment. 329 

That by jumping in another bush 
He got them back again. 

So he called it homo-hop-athy 

And soon it came about 
That a curious crowd about the thorns 

Was hopping in and out. 
Yet, disguise it by the longest name 

They may, it is no use 
For all the world knew the discovery 

Was made by Mother Goose. 

Then stepping forward she recites : 

There once was a woman 

And what do you think ? 
She lived upon nothing 

But victuals and drink. 
Victuals and drink 

Were the chief of her diet, 
And yet this poor woman 

Scarce ever was quiet. 

Music plays Money Musk or Vive T amour, and a little 
woman enters with knitting and chair. She fidgets contin- 
ually, sitting for a few moments and wandering about, 
peeping into everything. Presently she goes off and Mother 
Goose reads : 

And were you so foolish 

As really to think 
That all she could want 

Was her victuals and drink ? 
And that while she was furnished 

With that sort of diet, 
Her feeling and fancy 
Would starve and be quiet ? 



3$o . Entertainments, 

O many a woman 

Goes starving, I wean, 
Who lives in a palace, 

And fares like a queen, 
Till the famishing heart, 

And the feverish brain 
Have spelled out to life's end, 

The long lesson of pain. 

Still there are men and women 
Would force you to think 
. They choose to live only 
On victuals and drink. 

O restless and craving 

Unsatisfied hearts, 
Whence never the vulture 

Of hunger departs ! 
How long on the husks 

Of your life will ye feed ? 
Ignoring the same 

And its famishing need. 

Curtain falls. Mother Goose arranges herself in the 
middle at the back of the stage. On oiie side, and toward 
the fro?it, sits a little girl on a cushion, eating from a bowl. 
At the other side, not so far forward, sits a pair of lovers 
in blissful ignorance of others, the girl nearest the edge of 
the stage. Cnrtain rises. Mother Goose repeats : 

Little Miss Muffet 

Sat on a tuffet 

Eating curds and whey, 

There came a black spider 

And sat down beside her 

And frightened Miss Muffet away. 



Mother Goose Entertainment, 331 

Music strikes up Shoo-fiy. An enormous spider, as big 
. as one's head, is slowly let down by a fine thread till it drops 
beside Miss Muffet who, seeing it, jumps up, drops bowl 
and spoon and runs away. The?i directly enters an old 
woman (the one who could not keep quiet will do) with a 
chair and sits down before the lovers who suddenly become 
aware of her presence. The girl slips away and prese?itly 
her lover follows her. After a moment the old lady picks 
up the spider by its thread and goes out. Music stops and 
Mother Goose reads : 

Of all mortal blisses, 

From comfits to kisses, 
There's sure to be something by way of alloy ; 

Each new expectation 

Brings fresh aggravation, 
And a doubtful amalgam's the best of our joy. 

You may sit on your tuffet 

Yes — cushion and stuff it ; 
And provide what you please, if you don't like whey ; 

And before you can eat it, 

There'll be — I repeat it — 
Some sort of black spider to come in the way. 

Curtain drops, and in the middle of the back of the stage 
are placed two high-backed elaborately carved chairs i?i 
which sit a King and Queen side by side with a small ta- 
ble before them according to the old custom of kings and 
queens. On a table, covered with a scant cloth that does 
not hide the grandeur of cotton flamiel ermine and gilt pa- 
per finery, stands a pie filled with stuffed blackbirds, or 
their imitation in black cloth, well wired. If there is a 
large circular dish-cover available the birds may be fas- 



332 Entertainments. 

te7ied with hairpins upon the top of the crust a?id covered. 
If not, a cover of paste is made and baked and carefully 
laid over. The curtain rises. A singer behind the scenes 
sings the ballad from the Baby's Opera or Elliott's Mother 
Goose Melodies ; as the music ceases a servant enters, walks 
in front of the table, removes the cover or cuts the pastry, and 
imi7itdiately retires. As soon as the cover is removed the 
soimd of the warbling of birds is to be imitated by the blow- 
ing of quill-whistle in water. The king and queen start 
up in surprise, and the curtain d7'ops. Every thing is re- 
moved quickly and the curtain rises. Mother Goose, sit- 
ting in 07ie of the high-backed chairs, reads : 

It doesn't take a conqueror to see 

What sort of curious pastry this might be ; 

A flock of flying rumors, caught alive 

And housed, like swarming bees, within a hive. 

And so a dish of dainty gossip making 

Smooth, covered over with a show of secrecy, 

That one but takes the pleasant pains of breaking, 

And out the wide-mouthed knaves pop eagerly. 

Black birds, indeed ! Each separate scandal 
Is truly black as soot of a candle. 
But mark the sequel ! When the laugh is over, 
The crust once broken, you may seek in vain 
To catch the birds, or coax them in again ; 
When, therefore, as not seldom it may be 
Even in the soberest community 
Strong revelations sometimes get about, 
Like a mysterious cholera breaking out — 
When daily papers then with many a hint 
That daubs them darker even than their print, 
Conclude without a reasonable doubt 
If you could sift the thing, or trace it out, 



Mother Goose Entertainment. 333 

You'd find some one had sown a pocketfull of rye 
Or, been regaling on a blackbird pie ! 

Mother Goose rises and repeats : 

As Tommy Snooks and Bessie Brooks 

Were walking out one Sunday, 
Says Tommy Snooks to Bessie Brooks 

To-morrow will be Monday. 

Music plays : Walking down Broadway ; or, Sparking 
Sunday Night. A boy and girl enters arm-and-arm, ap- 
parently in close conversation. They saunter back and 
forth, and go out. They may be dressed in old-time fash- 
ion or in the costume of to-day, if it is a simple 07ie. They 
go out and the music ceases. Mother Goose reads : 

No doubt you are smiling at such a remark, 
And thinking poor Snooks but a pitiful spark ; 
'Tis a pity indeed in that moment of leisure, 
To dampen poor Bessie's hardly-earned pleasure 
Suggesting that close on the beautiful Sunday 
Must come all the common-place horrors of Monday. 

That he to his toiling, and she to her tub 
Must turn, and take up with another week's rub ; 
Yet a truth for us all, since the shade of the real 
Follow fast on the track of each sunny ideal. 
Now and then we may pause on Life's pleasant oases 
But between, lie the desert's grim, desolate spaces, 
And our feet with all patience must travel them still. 
Reaching forward to blessing, through bearing of ill. 
Yet for Snooks and his Bessie — for me and for you, 
Comes a Saturday night when the wages are due ; 
And we'll say to each other right joyfully one day 
To-morrow — the endless to-morrow is Sunday. 



334 Entertainments. 

In farewell : 

One parting word and I am gone ; 
If I've prevailed to make you see 
These things as they appear to me 
Then I have proved this Goose a Swan — 

Good night. 

"Sweet by and by" might be played while the audience 
disperse. 



SONGS OF SEVEN. 



Note.— There can hardly be a choicer entertainment for the Sunday-school, 
nor for the social circle than the illustration of Jean I?igelow's Songs of Seven. 
It contains artistic pictures, good reading, fine music, and choice poetry. There 
are seven poems illustrating different ages in woman's life, from childhood to old 
age. Because the characters to be represented are few it is admirably suited for 
tableaux. An artist introduces nothing into his pictures to withdraw attention 
from the principal figures or the lesson taught or sentiment expressed, therefore 
it is important that those who personate the characters should utterly forget their 
own personality and conform dress and attitude to the illustration of the poem. 
The determination of each actor to look her prettiest is the b'ane of tableaux. 
Everyone taking part should cheerfully submit herself to the one who has the 
management, to be dressed, and sacrificed if necessary, to the beauty of the pic- 
ture as a whole. There are several editions of the poem whose illustrations,will 
be good guides. The stage may represent a garden in Seven times One. The 
school-girl may sit beside a table strewn with books, slate, etc., and forget herself 
in a reverie in Seven times Two. Instead of leaning out of a window to listen for 
the steps of her lover, she may be listening, and he looking in at open window, 
in Seven times Three. Of course a mother surrounded by little children may be 
made an indoor scene in Seven times Four. Widowhood, in Seven Times Five, 
may be expressed by a posture of abandoned grief, with clasped hands and bowed 
head upon a table, with closed Bible. Seven times Six affords a fine contrast in 
color between lustreless black and the sheen of white satin. Seven times Seven 
may be the widow finding her greatest comfort in religion. She sits before her 
table, with its open Bible, as though she were absorbed in its teachings, and 
raising her head and eyes with a look of prayer and resignation. Let but few 
colors be introduced in each picture — no jewelry. Let the folds and forms of 
the dresses be the simplest possible — an utter absence of flounces — for so only 
can artistic tableaux be presented. There must be a striking impression, and a 
few prominent forms and tints produce it, in the short interval while the curtain 
is raised. Elaborate, or even moderate detail is destructive to the general effect. 

Before the curtain rises, each poem should be read by some one who stands be- 
hind the scenes, and when all is ready the reader should repeat the verse that more 
particularly describes the tableaux; then the music should begin and continue 
while the picture is displayed. 



336 Entertainments, 

MUSIC TO ACCOMPANY SONGS OF SEVEN. 



1. Opening Overture. Figaro. 


Mozart. 


3. La Source. 


Dwight. 


3. " Like a dream.'' From Martha. 




4. Summer Night. 




5. Air du Roi. 


Louis XIII. 


6. Funeral March. 


Beethoven. 


7. Father, lead me. 


Butterfield. 


8. Les Deux Anges. 


Blumentlial. 


9. Chorus. God is the refuge of his people. 


From Cantata of Esther. 



AN IDYL. 

Note. — A Series of Idyls is an entertainment which may be made more en- 
joyable than the ordinary programme of tableaux, because so many are not re- 
quired to fill up an evening's amusement, the disadvantage attending tableaux 
always being that they require a great deal of effort for a short-lived pleasure. 
In this series of pictures short bits of poetry are distinctly read by some good 
reader behind the scenes, preparing the audience for the sentiment of the pic- 
ture. Detailed descriptions of the management of the tableaux would occupy too 
much space. In most neighborhoods the artistic taste and mechanical ingenuity 
can be readily supplied, always remembering that few objects, simple forms, few 
and harmonious colors, no elaboration, and very little detail, are the prime ele- 
ments of success. 



PROGRAMME. 

i. Piano Solo. 

2. Mother's Love. Burridge. 

May be found in Bryant's Library of Poetry and Song, p. n. 

3. Music Piano accompaniment to Wagner's Slumber Song. 

4. Solo. Mother, Home, and Heaven. Eliza Sproat Turner. 

5. A Little Goose. Whittier's Child Life, p. 18S. 

6. Music. Lulu is our darling pride. 

7. Solo. Only a baby small. 

8. The Smack in School. Lib. of Poetry and Song, p. 25. J. W.Palmer. 

9. Music RoryO'Moore. 

10. Solo. Comin' thro' the Rye. 

11. The Gray Swan. Child Life, p. 233, Alice Carey. 

12. Music I'm afloat. 

13. Solo. — Home again, from a foreign shore. 

14. Wilkins and his Dinah. (Pantomime). Our Young Folks, July, 1871. 

15. The Afternoon Nap. Child Life, p. 171. Eastman. 

16. Music Old house at home. 

17. Solo. My old woman and I. 

18 Jennie Kissed Me. Leigh Hunt, 

Library of Poetry and Song, p. 25. 

19. Music. Kiss waltz. // Bacio. 

20. Solo. Bright things can never die. 

21. Mary had a little Lamb. In pantomime, with singing. Wide Awake, 

April, 1878. 

22. Lively march to close. ■ 

337 



338 Entertainments. 

Music is suggested to acco?npany the showing of the 
tableaux, and when happily chosen adds very much to the 
pleasure of the occasion. It is instrumental, of course. To 
an audie?ice of little people, the necessary pauses required for 
scene-shifti7ig are often wearisome. Songs are suggested to 
fill the interval. More difficult music may be substituted of 
course. 



Bates in the Wood. 



A BURLESQUE PANTOMIME. 
CHARACTERS. 

Covetous Uncle. Two Infants. 

Two Ruffians. Three Robins. 

Note. — Two tender orphans, the heirs to a large fortune, are left to the care 
of a covetous uncle, who is overcome by the temptation to secure the money for 
himself. He hires two ruffians to carry the children to the woods and there 
murder them. The ruffians take the children to the forest. Becoming enraged 
at each other they commence to fight, the children stray away and are never 
found. Being exhausted, they lie down to die, and the sweet-voiced robins cover 
them with leaves. 

Costumes. The Uncle appears in dressing-gown and slip- 
pers. The Ruffians are two very short men, or half-grown 
boys in high boots up to their hips, slouched hats, knives and 
pistols in belt, and swords in hands, heavy mustaches marked 
with burnt cork, and if possible a smile painted on their faces. 
The Babes should be personated by two of the largest, tallest 
young men to be found. If six feet high, so much the better. 
The first Babe has on a pink calico apron, buttoned behind ; a 
very wide straw hat, and a stick of red and white candy a foot 
and a half long. The second Babe is dressed in frock, apron, 
pantalettes, a round ruffled collar and false braids. She 
holds a hat by the string. 

Scene First. A sitting room in Uncle's house, Uncle dis- 
covered at the table with back to children, counting over a bag 
of gold. The Babes sit on the floor playing with a doll, and 
soon play " horsey." By and by the Ruffians appear. They 

339 



34° Entertainments. 

seem to talk earnestly with the Uncle, who points to the clock, 
apparently directing them to seize the children when the 
clock shall strike. Clock strikes, the timid children are seized, 
they embrace each other, sob, and are led off. 

Scene Second. Trees set in boxes covered with green cam- 
bric stand at back of stage. Leaves on the ground. 

Enter Ruffians with Babes. The Ruffians engage in angry 
looks, nods, gesticulations, and forget the children. Soon 
they come to blows, fence with their swords and in their pas- 
•sion crowd each other off the stage behind. The Babes be- 
ing alone become frightened, begin to cry and howl, then 
comfort each other sucking the candy from the same stick. 
Then wandering back and forth they cry again, and finally 
drop asleep on a bank from weariness. 

Scene Third. Babes discovered dead (faces are powdered) 
and after a pause the Robins appear, hop about, look at the 
children, hop to the side of the stage where a cabbage leaf is 
fastened in their bills ; and then back to lay them over children. 

These Robins are the most amusing of creatures when well 
dressed and personated, and never fail to elicit great applause. 
Boys are dressed in gray and red muslin. First in the dress- 
ing a pasteboard bill is fastened to the head by several strings. 
The bill has a slit in it to hold a cabbage leaf — and the 
mouth has a whistle with which to warble, a child's pillow is 
fastened about the neck to form the full breast of the bird ; 
a square of red cambric with one corner turned down is fas- 
tened close under the chin around the neck. The cambric 
should be three-quarters of a yard square. The corner oppo- 
site the one that is turned in at the neck is brought down 
over the breast and fastened between the legs on the panta- 
loons. Then the head and body are to be fitted with a dark 
brown or black cambric cover, with arm holes, over which, 
the arms being doubled up, the wings are to be sewed as well 
as possible. They are made also of muslin, into one side is 
sewn a long whalebone, and the rest of the wing made of deep 
folds of muslin running lengthwise of the wing, the folds 



Babes in the Wood. 341 

laid deeply and pressed in with a hot iron, lying of course very 
close at the arm-hole and drooping more or less toward the 
end, where they slope off toward the upper whalebone ; this 
must be securely fastened away from back to give the appear- 
ance of the body. The tail may be made of the same mus- 
lin folds into which pasteboard is fastened, or it may be made 
of a feather duster securely fastened with wire around the 
boy's wrist ; eyes may be made of a circle of black cloth fas- 
tened upon a circle of white that is a little larger. The dark 
muslin cover of the head must come down over the roots of 
the bill and cover the mouth aud the upper edge of the Rob- 
in's red breast. Over the mouth the muslin must be slit in 
short frequent openings to allow air for breathing. Twelve 
yards of dark colored muslin and three yards of red cambric 
will dress three robins. 

The effect will be greatly enhanced if waltz music is played 
all through the pantomime, all the characters, except the 
Robins, moving with a gliding step in time to the music. 
These few hints may be further elaborated, and as an evening 
pantomime it is very laughable. 



OTHER GOOD THINGS. 



There are some excellent publications, not so well known 
as they deserve, to which we would refer those having in 
charge church or society entertainments. Pre-eminent among 
these are the little dramas of Mrs. Abby Morton Diaz, " Wil- 
liam Henry," and others, which can be obtained of the pub- 
lishers, Messrs. Houghton & Osgood. Mr. G. B. Bartlett, 
the veteran of the amateur stage, has published a little book 
(through Osgood & Co.) which will be found very useful in 
holiday merry-makings. It contains the best Mrs. Jarley that 
we know of. D. Lothrop & Co. publish a very choice col- 
lection of Mr. Bartlett's amusements. J. C. Johnson (Oliver 
Ditson & Co.) gives a series of attractive Juvenile Oratorios, 
among which are the " Festival of the Rose," and the " Chil- 
dren of Jerusalem." The same publishers give collections of 
Old Folks' Concert Tunes, of Christmas and Easter Carols, 
The Flower Queen, and other capital Cantatas by George F. 
Root, with chorus books, part songs, hymnals, etc., without 
number and generally of great merit. They are also espe- 
cially to be commended for endeavoring to make the music 
of the best masters, of Mendelssohn, Mozart, Schubert, 
Bach, Handel, Haydn, Beethoven, Rossini, Blumenthal, Von 
Weber, Abt and others, available and familiar. 

Mrs. M. B. Slade, of Fall River, Mass., publishes a little 
journal (monthly) called Good Times, devoted *to Sunday- 

342 



Other Good Things. 343 

school Concerts of a very simple description with no attempt 
at theatrical effect, but with a lesson in every line. 

If some one with a ready pen would compose a new dia- 
logue for " Punch and Judy," an entertainment of this kind 
might be very amusing for Children's Christmas parties. The 
apparatus, as sold in the toy-shops, is quite expensive ; but 
a little ingenuity will construct it very readily at home. 
George Sand tells of her Marionette, or Theatre of Puppets, 
and of the complicated performances they went through un- 
der skilful manipulation. The plays which she herself com- 
posed for them must have been a great treat to the listeners, 
who were often distinguished people, while noted musicians 
frequently assisted in the orchestra. 

Miss Helen Potter has been giving for some time past 
capital personations or imitations of well-known lecturers and 
actors. Any one with a genius for mimicry and extended' 
opportunities for hearing the best speakers, might entertain a 
company in the same manner. 

Some of Miss Potter's roles are : 
The Sleep Walking Scene, from Macbeth ; a la Mrs. Scott 

Siddons. 
For Your Own Sakes ; a la Anna Dickinson. 
Girls ; a la Olive Logan. 
Temperance ; a la John B. Gough. 

Katharine of Arragon, and Meg Merillies ; a la Miss Cushman. 
Queen Elizabeth ; a la Mme. Ristori. 
Equal Rights ; a la E. Cady Stanton. 
Cassius to Brutus ; a la L awrence Barrett. 
On Trial for Voting ; a la Susan B. Anthony. 
Lecture to Women ; a la Sojourner Truth. 

" An Evening with the Poets," in which all the exercises 
tableaux, recitations, songs, etc,, are taken from the poets, 
forms an entertainment very easy to arrange, and, with per- 
sons of taste on the committee, certain of being delightful. 

*' A Carnival pf Authors," provides for a fancy-dress party 



344 Entertainments. 

for a whole town, to be held in a large hall. A Queen of 
Carnival should be chosen, and a Grand Chamberlain, or 
Master of Ceremonies, whose business it is to introduce every- 
one present to the Queen. 

" A Dickens Evening," where every one present enacts a 
character from the great caricaturist, gives opportunity for a 
charming fancy-dress party of less ponderous proportions 
than the " Carnival of Authors." 

" A Waverly Evening," or " Shakspearian Evening," may 
be managed in the same way. 

" The decoration of churches and churchyards with ever- 
greens and flowers," says Bishop Coxe, "and such customs as 
those of ' The Rush-bearing ' and ' Posy Sunday ' which are 
still extant in England, though wholly voluntary and not or- 
dained by the Church, are with unprejudiced persons, a beau- 
.tiful illustration of the faculty by which she invests every 
good gift of God with sacred associations." 

The holy George Herbert speaks as follows in his country 
parson : " The country parson takes order that the church 
be swept and kept clean — and at great festivals strewed and 
stuck with boughs, and perfumed with incense." 

So Worsdworth describes the village children's morning : 

" By rustic music led, 
Through the still churchyard, each with garland gay, 
But carried scepter-like, o'ertops the head 
Of the proud bearer." 



ACCESSORIES, DECORATIONS, 
SCENERY, &c. 

[" SHAPES " or " Forms," to be covered with Greens, Gilt, 

&c, can be obtained by addressing 

MESSRS. J. & R. LAMB, 59 Carmine Street, New York.] 



However fine the performance on the platform, if given in 
a public hall whose glistening white walls rise in chalky 
Dover Cliffs on either side, reflecting a glare of light, the au- 
dience will find it difficult to feel at home, and even the pret- 
tiest chapel wears an added charm in a garniture of evergreen ; 
while what lady of taste will throw open her parlors to an 
amateur entertainment, without robbing her garden, or con- 
sulting her florist for the decorations ? 

Especially at Christmas-time, when we miss out-door 
greenery, do we insist on evergreen, wreath and garland, 
motto and festoon, with "Star in the East," high on the wall 
that faces toward Jerusalem. 




Six-pointed Star. 





Star of Bethlehem. 



Star of Bethlehem 
in Circle. 

345 




Six-pointed Star 
in Circle. 



346 Entertainments, 

" The last leaf has departed 

From off the old oak tree, 
But there is a wreath of mistletoe 

Where the green leaf used to be. 
The holly's scarlet berries, 

Amid the leaves appear ; 
It is an elfin armory, 

With banner and with spear. 
Christmas is coming my brother dear, 

And Christmas comes, my brother, but once 
a year." 



Mrs. Landon's homesick longing for England, from Sasson 
in the Deccan, breathes the same thought : 

" It is merry there at Christmas — 
We have no Christmas here ; 
'Tis a weary thing, a summer 
That lasts throughout the year. 

I remember how the banners 

Hung round our ancient hall, 
Bound with wreaths of shining holly, 

Brave winter's coronal. 

And above each rusty helmet 

Waved a new and cheering plume, 

A branch of crimson berries, 
And the latest rose in bloom ; 

And the white and pearly mistletoe 
Hung half concealed o'erhead — 

I remember one sweet maiden 
Whose cheek it dyed with red ! " 



Accessories and Decorations. 



347 



Evergreen is the most appropriate material for Christmas 
decorations. In the West the cedar is almost the only avail- 
able evergreen, and no better could be wished for sewing on 
pasteboard mottoes and ornamental forms. In the East we 
have hemlock, pine, laurel, etc., for large festoons and for 
finer work ground, feather and bouquet pine, pressed ferns, 
varnished autumn leaves, grasses, immortelles, myrrh, box, 
which, with festoons of smilax from the florist's, artificial flow- 
ers sparingly and judiciously used when the distance is suffi- 
ciently great,and hot-house flowers as many as can be obtained, 
furnishes material to make a bower of beauty of the most 
unattractive surroundings. 

Where money is not so great a consideration, the patent 
body or foundation sold by Mr. J. R. Lamb (see advertise- 
ment) will be found of great advantage in making the dif- 
ferent designs. All used in the illustration of this article are 
furnished by him, and can be easily executed on his flexible 
foundation. If the finances of the society will not allow of 
the purchase, a little ingenuity must be made to take its 
place ; cord must serve for the festoons and the other designs 
may be bent in wire or cut from cardboard. After the Star 
of Bethlehem, the design most indispensable for Christmas 





Greek Cross. 



Cross-Crosslet. 



X Ul&UUZ 



\ 1 

Tzzzmmzzazm 



Cross of Jerusalem. 



time, as referring directly to Christ, is the cross. Indeed for 
all other seasons it is the most appropriate and the one which 
takes the lead in all church decorations. We give some of 
the different forms. These may be combined at will with 
more intricate designs, for instance, with the monogram of 



348 



Entertainments. 





Trefoil Roman 
Cross of Iona. Cross - 

our Lord, the letters I. H. S. as in the pattern given further 
on for cutting from velvet paper. After the cross the crown. 





Eastern Crown. 
Flat for the Wall. 



Round Crown. 

For borders, etc., we may use the Greek key pattern, always 
effective, though so well known. Trefoils and quatrefoils, 
and trefoils with triangles, come in well to fill up any vacant 





Triangle and Trefoil 
form. 



Whole Triangle and 
Trefoil combined. 



spaces. The anchor is a beautiful form and may be used in 
combination with the cross or alone. 





Anchors. 



Faith and Hope. 



Accessories and Decorations, 349 

For Christmas mottoes each letter should be cut from stiff 
paper or cardboard and the evergreen sewed on neatly, sprig 
lapping over sprig. Old English alphabets are better than 
German text, as being more legible, though when the mottoes 
or text are very familiar, the more ornamental German text 
may be used. 



CAROL. 

For a fragrant crown, 
When the Lord comes down, 

Of the deathless green we braid, 
Over the altar bright, 
Where the tissues white 

Like winter snow is laid ; 
And we think it meet 
Our Lord to greet 

As the wise men did of old, 
With the spiceries 
Of incense trees, 

And hearts like the hoarded gold. 
And so we shake 
The snowy flake 

From cedar and myrtle fair 
And the boughs that nod 
On the hills of God 

We raise to his glory there. 

For oh ! we fling 
Each fragrant thing 

In the paths of the newly wed ; 
And when we weep, 
Put flowers to sleep 

On the breast of the early dead ; 



35 o Entertainments. 

And the altar's lawn 
At morning's dawn 

We deck at Eastertide ; 
. And the font's fair brim 
So tells of Him 

Who liveth though he died ! 
Of flowers he spake, 
And for His sake 

Whose text was the lilies' bloom, 
We search abroad 
For the flowers of God, 

To give Him their sweet perfume. 
From Christian Ballads by Bishop A. C. Coxe. 



FERNS AND AUTUMN LEAVES. 

No church adornment can be more beautiful than graceful 
arches and festoons of feathery-woven ferns entwined with 
autumn leaves. 

The method of utilizing them is easy and inexpensive. Se- 
cure a few square yards of paper the tint of the church wall, 
so as to be invisible. Decide on the size and position upon 
the wall of the arches of ferns, then cut accordingly narrow 
curved bands of the tinted paper — not over three inches 
wide except the middle which may widen to six inches — and 
on them pin the ferns and autumn leaves. Two pins are 
sufficient to fasten a fern. The stems of the Terns should 



Accessories and Decorations. 351 

project upward, otherwise the ferns may curl. In the cen- 
tre of the arch have a large bunch of ferns and autumn leaves, 
then let the arch taper off to a point at the ends. For the 
sake of variety have some of the arches inverted, ends point- 
ing upward, festoon fashion. The weight of these even when 
finished is so slight that three or four very fine tacks, with 
heads scarcely larger than that of a pin, are sufficient to hold 
them on the wall. 

Wall-pockets may be made of splinters of black walnut 
(sold in market in bunches) woven together like basket-work 
fastened with bright wools. These may be filled with gay 
grasses, ferns, autumn leaves and immortelles. 

There are so many ways of fern arrangement that description 
seems difficult. Special occasions require specific directions. 
Much must be left to the taste and the inventive inspiration 
of the hour. But we will suppose the occasion to be a Mis- 
sionary concert. 

An idol or other heathern symbol may be set on a bracket 
for a centre piece. Above it on an arch of the tinted paper, 
about a yard in length, paste the gold letters LIGHT. 
Just above the letters have simulated rays of light, and just 
below them, near the idol's hea4, the small letters for. 
Beneath the idol may be the word Africa ; far to the left, Peru, 
far to the right, India ; each surmounted by an arch of ferns. 
Now, over the whole throw a very long arch of ferns and 
autumn leaves. At each end, as if upholding it, may be placed 
a wall-pocket holding an autumn bouquet. The effect of the 
entire wall, thus decorated, is beautiful. 

It will be readily seen that this decoration is just as well 
adapted to other occasions as to this by simply changing the 
centre-piece and the mottoes to suit the subject. 

By way of variety one arch may be entirely of ferns, dotted 
with tiny spangles. This simulates ferns sprinkled with dew, 
and is very pretty. 

This style of decoration is especially available in the late 



352 



Entertainments, 



autumn, for nearly all who have spent the summer at the 
mountains will return laden with woodland spoils. 

Mottoes in colors are ornamental for all seasons. Such 
designs as the following, letters of which may be cut of col- 
ored flannels or paper, are in good taste. The initial letters 






may be quite fanciful and the whole sentence tacked to the 
wall or fastened with mucilage. Such mottoes as express 
love are better cut from red flannel. Faith, confidence, and 
truth, are appropriate in blue. Pentitence, in lilac or purple. 
Yellow or gilt, for glory. f)o not place the letters in a straight 
row, but around a curve, double curve or scroll. 
The beauty of these illuminations will depend as much on 




Accessories and Decorations. 



353 



the neatness of their execution as their artistic design, in the 
first instance. We give a number of ornamental designs which 




are very handsome when cut from dark green or crimson 
velvet paper. 

If the ground against which they are placed is dark, the 




354 



Entertainments. 



lilies in the foregoing and following examples may be cut 
from white velvet or cotton flannel, with stems of gold paper; 




the leaves may be gold or dark green, the cross and vase of 
gold. 

Wreaths of ivy form the prettiest frames for your text or 




ornamental designs ; as we are chary of the natural vines at 
Christmas-time resort may be had to artificial ivy leaves, for 



Accessories and Decorations. 



355 



the manufacture of which the American Cultivator gives 
the following directions : 

" Artificial ivy leaves are made by taking green window 
Holland and using an English ivy leaf for a pattern. Cut 
out any number of leaves, making different sizes. Next lay 
them upon your paper and with a warm iron, upon which 
you first rub some beeswax, press each leaf. To shape and 
vein the leaves, fold the leaf from side to side, making a crease 
from stem to tip ; then likewise through to each point, from 
stem. For stems take fine wire (not too fine to stand in shape) 
push the end through two small holds, previously made with 
a pin, far enough to turn back upon the under side, and twist 
carefully around to secure it "in its place. The smallest leaves 
are placed upon the ends of the vine. Twine the wires with 
tissue paper, the color of leaves, and make long vines with 
branches here and there. 






A wreath of natural thorn, will form an appropriate border 
to monogram I H S, instead of the stamped circlet given 
above. 



35 6 



Entertainments. 




For Thanksgiving, the most appropriate decorations are 
the sickle and cornucopias filled with grain and grasses. 




Cornucopia, flat for the wall. 



The wedding bell, the flower canopy under which the 
bridal party stands to receive congratulations, although one 
of the costliest chef d'ceirures of the florist, may be impro- 
vised at home from a child's hoopskirt. 



Accessories and Decorations. 357 



SCENERY, &c. 

Mr. G. B. Bartlett, in his little book, Parlor Amusements, 
gives a list of the stage properties necessary for the presen- 
tation of tableaux, and instructions as to their manufacture. 
He gives an interesting account of an entertainment given in 
an old boat-house on an island near Plymouth Rock, where 
for a background to a vaudeville by amateur performances, 
when a garden scene was demanded, the rough beams were 
dressed with graceful vines, and arches made of clematis 
lighted up with gleaming sumac and coral- covered berries. 
Just as the play began the managers threw open the great 
doors at the end of the boat-house. The tide was high, and 
the sea came up close to the building, and the great, round, 
August moon began to rise slowly out of the water ; and all 
agreed that no finer background could have been seen in any 
theatre. 

The same writer gives the following directions for the con- 
struction of a boat to be used in such tableaux as " Cleopatra 
going to meet Mark Antony," " The Lily Maid of Astolat," 
" The Lady of Shalott," etc. 

" Lay two boards, about fourteen feet in length and four- 
teen inches wide, side by side upon the floor so that they 
will fit together very closely at the edge. Screw three cleats 
firmly upon these flat boards, one near each edge, and one 
at the centre. Turn the whole over, and you have a flat sur- 
face fourteen feet in length and one and a half in width. 
Draw upon one end the profile of the bow of a boat, and 
upon the other the stern. Saw the ends carefully, following 
your drawing. Paint the whole a light shade of yellow. 
Shave the upper edge into a slight curve, beginning eight 
inches from the bow and descending to the middle, then as- 
cending to within twenty-five inches of the stern. Then 
paint a black stripe three-fourths of an inch wide, six inches 



358 Entertainments. 

. 

below the upper edge, following as nearly as possible the 
curve ; and six inches apart two more stripes below it. 
Next shade the bow in black, also following the curve from 
the upper edge to a distance of two "feet from the lower 
edge. Saw out a figurehead and rudder to fasten upon 
the ends by screws. Stretch a strip of blue cambric, eight 
jnches wide, across the front of the stage having three wavy 
lines of white painted upon it for water. The boat is 
held up by the persons who sit behind it on boxes ; the sail is 
made of a sheet tacked upon a mast, also held by one of the 
performers." 

A boat scene of an entirely different character is described 
in the St. Nicholas for 1876, page 235, which describes the 
acting of Ballads and gives Lord Ullin's Daughter as an ex- 
ample. The ballad of The Mistletoe Bough prepared for act- 
ing, is given in St. Nicholas for January 1878, page 191. 

For further practical and excellent hints on the arrangement 
of tableaux, and their accessories, we would refer to our chap- 
ter on Living Pictures or Picture-frame Tableaux. Another 
way of manufacturing angel's wings, and one which we pre- 
fer to marking the feathers with crayon on white muslin, is, 
after the cloth is stretched over wire frames four feet long, to 
coat it with varnish, and while still " sticky " sprinkle thickly 
with live-geese feathers. 

The properties are, after all, the least important part, as any 
one who has thrilled under the reading of Charlotte Cushman, 
where no scenery whatever was attempted, can testify. The 
first requisite for a successful entertainment, is good acting, 
the first requisite of good acting is forgetfulness of self, and 
we beg our young readers to pay especial attention to Miss 
Hale's very sensible advice on this subject which precedes 
her little drama of Beauty and the Beast. If the acting is 
really fine it will be of little consequence whether a rosy sun- 
rise or pallid moonlight floods the artistic scenery in prompt 
obedience to the manager's command, or whether instead 



Accessories and Decorations. 359 

some one follows the advice of Quince in Midsummer Nights 
Dream, and " come in with a bush of thorns and a hawthorn, 
and says he comes to disfigure, or to present the person of 
moonshine," while " some other presents wall, having some 
plaster or some loam or some rough cast about him to signify 
wall, holding his fingers thus, and through that cranny Pyra- 
mus and Thisby whisper." 



The End. 



IMIISS CTUXjTJ^J^. E^.ST3VE-A-2sT is one of the most popular 
of our modern writers. 

YOUNG RICK. By Julia A. Eastman. Large 

i6mo. Twelve illustrations by Sol Eytinge . $i 50 

A bright, fascinating story of a little boy who was both a bless- 
ing and a bother. — Boston Journal. 

The most delightful book on the list for the children of the 
family, being full of adventures and gay home scenes and merry 
play-times. "Paty" would ha^p done credit to Dickens in his 
palmiest days. The strange glows and shadows of her character 
are put in lovingly and lingeringly, with the pencil of a master. 
Miss Margaret's character of light is admirably drawn, while Aunt 
Lesbia, Deacon Harkaway, Tom Dorrance, and the master and 
mistress of Graythorpe poor-house are genuine "charcoal 
sketches." 

STRIKING FOR THE RIGHT. By Julia 

A. Eastman. Large i6mo. Illustrated . 1 75 

While this story holds the reader breathless with expectancy 
and excitement, its civilizing influence in the family is hardly to 
be estimated. f"h all quarters it has met with the warmest praise. 

THE ROMNEYS OF RIDGEMONT. By 

Julia A. Eastman. i6mo. Illustrated . 1 50 

BEULAH ROMNEY. By Julia A. Eastman. 

16 mo. Illustrated 1 50 

Two stories wondrously alive, flashing with fun, sparkling with 
tears, throbbing with emotion. The next best thing to attending 
Mrs. Hale's big boarding-school is to read Beulah's experience 
there. 

SHORT-COMINGS AND LONG-GOINGS. 

By Julia A. Eastman. 16 mo. Illustrated. 1 25 

A remarKabls book, crowded with remarkable characters. It 
is a picture gallery of human nature. 

KITTY KENT'S TROUBLES. By Julia 

A. Eastman. 16 mo. Illustrated . . 1 50 

"A delicious April-day style of book, sunshiny with smiles on 
one page while the next is misty with tender tears. Almost every 
type of American school-girl is here represented— the vain Helen 
Dart, the beauty, Amy Searle, the ambitious, high bred, conserv- 
ative Anna Matson ; but next to Kitty herself sunny little Paul- 
ine Sedgewick will prove the general favorite. It is a story fully 
calculated to win both girls and boys toward noble, royal ways of 
doing little as well as great things. All teachers should feel an 
interest in placing it in the hands of their pupils." 



IF^IEsT SIT ' S ZF^-G-IE 



FOUR GIRLS AT CHAUTAUQUA. By 

Pansy. 12 mo. Illustrated . . . $1 50 

The most fascinating "watering-place'' story ever published. 
Four friends, each a brilliant girl in her way, tired of Saratoga 
and Newport, try a fortnight at the new summer resort on Chau- 
tauqua Lake, choosing the time when the National Sunday-school 
Assembly is in camp. Rev. Drs. Vincent, Deems, Cuyler, Ed- 
ward Eggleston, Mrs. Emily Huntingdon Miller, move promi- 
nently through the story. 

HOUSEHOLD PUZZLES. By Pansy. 121110. 

Illustrated . 1 50 

How to make one dollar do the work of five. A family of 
beautiful girls seek to solve this "puzzle." Piquant, humorous, 
but written with an intense purpose. 

THE RANDOLPHS. "By Pansy. 12 mo. Il- 
lustrated . . . . . . . 1 50 

A sequel to Household Puzzles, in which the Puzzles are agree- 
ably disposed of. 

GRANDPA'S DARLINGS. ¥y Pansy. 16 mo. 

Illustrated 1 25 

A big book, full of "good times" for the little people of the 
family. 

ESTER RIED . 

JULIA RIED . 

THREE PEOPLE 

THE KING'S DAUGHTER 

WISE AND OTHERWISE . 

CUNNING WORKMEN 

JESSIE WELLS . 

DOCIA'S JOURNAL . 

BERNIE'S WHITE CHICKEN 

HELEN LESTER. 

A CHRISTMAS TIME 



. By Pan 


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75 


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'"' DVCXSS J3-J±.tt2vLj^?>r has the very desirable knack of imparting 
valuable ideas under the guise of a pleasing story."— rThe New Century. 

MRS. HURD'S NIECE. By Ella Farman. 111. $i 50 

A thrilling story for the girls, especially for those who think 
they have a " mission," to whom we commend sturdy English 
Hannah, with her small means, and her grand success. Saidee 
Hurd is one of the sweetest girls ever embalmed in story, and 
Lois Gladstone one of the noblest. 

THE COOKING CLUB OF TU-WHIT 
HOLLOW. By Ella Farman. 16 mo. 
Eight full-page illustrations . . . . 1 25 

Worth reading by all who delight in domestic romance. — Fall 
River Daily News. 

The practical instructions in housewifery, which are abundant, 
are set in the midst of a bright, wholesome story, and the little 
housewives who figure in it are good specimens of very human, 
but at the same time very lovable, little American girls. It 
ought to be the most successful little girls' book of the season. — 
The Advance. 

A LITTLE WOMAN. By Ella Farman. 16m. 1 00 

The daintiest of all juvenile books. From its merry pages, win- 
some Kinnie Crosby has stretched out her warm little hand to 
help thousands of young girls. 

A WHITE HAND. By Ella Farman. 12m. 111. 1 50 

A genuine painting of American society. Millicent and Jack 
are drawn by a bold, firm hand. No one can lay this story down 
until the last leaf is turned. 



WIDE A WAKE. 

AN ILLUSTRATED MAGAZINE 

For the Young Folks. 

$2.00 ifieir, .a-zctzsttjuvi:- postage prepaid. 
Edited by ELLA FARMAN. 

Published by X>. LOTHEOP & CO., Boston, Mass. 



It always contains a feast of fat things for the little folks, and folks who are no 
longer little findjthere lost childhood in its pages. We are not saying too much 
when we say that its versatile editor — Ella Farman, is more fully at home 
in the child's wonder-land than any other living American writer. She is 
thoroughly en rapport with her readers, gives them now a sugar plum of poesy, 
now a dainty jelly-cake of imagination, and cunningly intermixes all the solid 
bread of thought that the child's mind can digest and assimilate. — York Tri*4 
Democrat. 



A Moment's Chat with our Friends. 



We take pleasure in offering our patrons a finer and more 
varied assortment of Juveniles and Holiday Books for 1870-77 
than in any year heretofore. In presenting our catalogue, 
we would add that, in regard to Children's Books, there is 
one happy word to say : the easiest, surest way to prevent 
the formation of a desire for evil literature has been found 
to place in the little hands hook upon book known to be pure 
and strong in influence, pure and vivid in impression, pure 
and fascinating in interest. Still, the parents who set out 
to do this are largely dependent upon what their Publish- 
ers and Booksellers set before them. In our latest selection 

of books, we have borne the welfare of the young people 
constantly in mind, from the young men and women, down 
to the little folks in the Primary schools. There are, for 
these " dots," whose tastes the parents can reasonably hope 
to shape, some exquisite little " Libraries," in tasteful boxes. 
There is no way to render a little one so completely happy 
as to give it a box of books to be all its own. With these 
arranged upon a swing book-shelf — and no child's room 
should be considered furnished without a book-shelf — the 
child feels that it has a library; and by no other method is 
it possible to teach a child the use, the proper care, and the 
value, of books. In the matter of price these tiny " Li- 
braries suit all purses. The Large Print Library, 6 vols., 
Illustrated, Cloth Bound, Chromo sides, $2.40. Charming 
Story Library, exquisitely bound, 6 vols., $3.00. Boys' 
Holiday Library, Girls' Holiday Library, each 6 
vols., $3.00 each. The True Stories Library, 12 vols., 
$2.40. This library comprises twelve tiny volumes, dainty 
in gray cloth, embossed with black, lighted up with gay 
chromos. The Pansy Picture Library, 4 vols., $3.00, is 
exquisite in paper, printing, illustrations and binding. For 
the very small folks in the nursery there are four merry 
books, with big print, full-page pictures, and gay, cloth- 
lined covers, Madame Mobcap, Merry Mice, Tony and 
Winket's Valentine. With the same care the Holi- 
day Gift-books have been selected. Gift-books hold a place 
for years upon the shelf and table ; and the Wide Awake 



A Moment's Chat with our Friends. 



Pleasure Book, Pansy's Picture Book, Pictures for 
our Darlings, Two Fortune Seekers, Word Pictures, 
each deserve a permanent niche, being sweet and sound from 
the first page to the last. These are the work of our fore- 
most authors, Bayard Taylor, Miss Alcott, Mrs. Whitney, 
Bossiter Johnson, Ella Farman, Mrs. Louise Chandler Moul- 
ton, Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, Mrs. B. H. Stoddard, Sophie 

May, etc. We also believe that we offer, in our List 

for Boys, volumes which may safely be read without first 
passing under parental scrutiny and excision, but which at 
the same time shall satisfy a boy's longing for adventure 
and his admiration for the stirring and the heroic, and shall 
leave him resolute instead of restless, ready for action and 

patient toil, instead of filling his brain with idle dreams. 

Our list for Girls is eqully wholesome and entertaining. 
We also offer for examination the Wide Awake Maga- 
zine, edited by Ella Farman, D. Lothrop & Co., Boston, 
Publishers. This magazine is furnished at the low price of 
$2.00 per annum, post-paid. It is exquisitely illustrated by 
Sol Eytinge, Waud, Merrill, Jessie Curtis, Miss Hallock, 
Miss Northam, Miss Humphrey, Mrs. Finley. Miss Farman 
is supported by a brilliant array of contributors, Mrs. B. H. 
Stoddard, Mrs. Celia Thaxter, Mrs. S. M. B. Piatt, Mrs. 
Moulton, Mrs. Emily Huntington Miller, Bossiter Johnson, 
Charles E. Hurd, Sophie May, Margaret Eytinge, Nora 
Perry, etc. The attractions for 1877 include a serial by 
Sophie May, Quinnebasset Girls, Good-for-Nothing 
Polly, by Ella Farman, and Child Marian Abroad, by 
Wm. M. T. Bounds, of the N. T. Independent, the latter be- 
ing records of a little girl's visits to the Pope, Empress Eu- 
genie, Princess Marie Valerie, Madame McMahon, etc., 

illustrated with portraits. We shall show this magazine 

to our patrons with pride and satisfaction, and receive and 
forward subscriptions. We are also able to furnish a cat- 
alogue of Messrs. Lothrop & Co.'s choice publications, in- 
cluding 500 vols. , upon application. We can cordially com- 
mend Messrs. Lothrop & Co.'s publications, for their whole- 
someness of tone, their power of entertainment, and their 
superior graces of style. 



Books of Merit. 



YouKa Folks' History of Germany. By Charlotte 
M. Yonge. Yery fully illustrated. D. Lothrop & Co., Bos- 
ton. Price $1.50. 

"We welcome the set of Histories of which this is the initial 
volume. Since Dickens' Child's History of England, nothing 
so tempting has been offered to our young folks, and 
we predict that these volumes will displace the stories of 
fictitious and improbable adventures now found on many a 
boy's bookshelf. Miss Yonge, while always boldly and 
continuously outlining the course of historical events, has the 
knack of seizing upon incidents which reveal the true char- 
acter of historical personages ; thus she makes her narrative 
very pleasing, especially to a young reader. Indeed her 
History of Germany ought to satisfy the most ardent lover of 
adventure, for its pages are crowded with soldiers, knights 
and heroes, baby kings, little girl queens, and boy emperors. 
German History, dating back before Christ, abounds with 
wonderful mythology, romantic exploits, and swift, bold 
deeds ; and Miss Yonge begins with the giants of Valhalla and 
comes on down through the noisy days of Wallenstein into 
our own times to Bismark, who, perhaps, is quite as mighty 
a man as the boldest of the old Captains. 

The book, besides assisting one to understand the whys and 
wherefores of the present geography of Europe, and giving 
an insight into modern European politics, has also an abun- 
dance of pictures which affords a good idea of German 
costumes and customs in the early ages. 

Koyal Lowrie. A Boy's Book. By Charles B. Talbot. 

Large 16mo. with 12 pen-and-ink pictures by Hopkins. 

Boston: D. Lothrop & Co. Price, $1.25. 

This capitally written story of school and vacation life is 
bound to become a standard in boys' libraries. It is full of 
fun, and yet not coarse fun. It tells the story of the troubles 
got into and blunders made by half a dozen people, young 
and old, the principal characters being two schoolfellows. 
Boyal Lowrie and Archie Bishop. It is an essentially 
"live" book, and the boy who fails to read it loses just so 
much genuine enjoyment. 



"That Boy of Newkirk's." By L. Bates. Boston: D. 

Lotlirop & Co. Price, $1.25. 

Ad other good book of the right type, with genuine boys, 
full of life, and, therefore, full of fun, eager for pleasure, 
and exposed to sharp perils. The moral is simple and tells 
itself, without any preaching by the author, that a Christian 
home, with an atmosphere of love, is a magnet to hold a boy 
to a pure life. Gordon Ferril, nurtured in such a home, 
grows naturally to a noble manhood, and becomes a helper 
to other boys less favored. The story brings out, also, with 
great beauty, the power of genuine sympathy in recovering 
the vicious, and the nature of true piety in begetting such 
loving sympathy. The story is well told, the characters 
clearly drawn, and the book will be sure to interest readers, 
and inspire them with higher aims in life. 

Carrie Ellsworth : or Seed Sowing. By W. O. Johnson. 

Boston : .D. Lothrop & Co. Price, $1.25. 

Carrie Ellsworth is a pleasant book to read, and its influ- 
ence hangs about one like the fragrance of luscious fruit. 
It is a quiet story, with no extraordinary incidents or char- 
acters, but teaching in a winning way how girls naturally 
impulsive and thoughtless may take on resolute purposes, 
and overcome the weaknesses that threaten to maim life. 
Good home and Sabbath school teaching inspire good aims ; 
and every day endeavors, though often baffled, gradually 
bring strength and victory. It ought to be a favorite book, 
for it deals with people that everybody knows, and with in- 
cidents of daily occurrence. 

Babyland. Boston : D. Lothrop & Co. Bound vol. 75c. 

This is one of the charmingest of the many charming 
books for the little ones published by this house. Babies are 
critics in their way, and know right well whether what is 
written for and read and sung to them is genuine baby liter- 
ature or make-believe. Every line in this volume was writ- 
ten by lovers of the little ones, who know just what they 
like and can appreciate. The stories are such as innumera- 
ble mammas will have to read and re-read and read again, 
while the verses will become as familiar in nurseries as the 
choicest rhymes of Mother Goose. Such are the verses 
about "Naughty Susie," "Baby's Complaint," "Washing 
Day," etc. The illuminated cover displays a choice selec- 
tion of babies, doing all sorts of things. 



The $1000 Prize Series 

Pronounced by the Examining Committee, Rev. Drs. 

Lincoln, Rankin and Day, superior to 
. » any similar series. 



Striking for the Right, 

Silent Tom, - 

Evening Rest, - 

The Old Stone House, 

Into the Light, - - - - 

Walter McDonald, - 

Story of the Blount Family, - 

Margaret Worthington, 

The Wadsworth Boys, 

Grace Avery's Influence, - 

Glimpses Through, - 

Ralph's Possession, - 

Luck of Alden Farm, 

Chronicles of Sunset Mountain, 

The Marble Preacher, 

Golden Lines, - 



$i 



Sold by Booksellers generally, and sent by Mail 
on receipt of price. 



75 
50 
50 
50 
5o 
50 
50 
50 
50 
5<J 
50 
50 
50 
50 
,50 

postpaid, 



75 



BOSTON: 
D. LOTHROP & CO., PUBLISHERS. 



LbA P *?9 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



021 100 872 6 



